The Nigeria Super Eagles’ failure to react to Jodel Dossou’s shock equaliser in the 37th minute at the Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, Abidjan spoke of larger or deeper problems in the Nigerian team on and off the pitch.
A few minutes later, skipper Steve Mounie ghosted in at a corner-kick to lash home the winner to give Benin Republic their first full international win over their neighbours.
Nigeria are stuck on 3 points after 4 matches, 4 points behind Rwanda and South Africa in this Group C of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. It will require a Damman style miracle for Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup which will be a second consecutive miss of football’s number one tournament.
It is easy to feel very sorry for Fisayo Dele-Basiru and Raphael Onyedika who have scored two very good goals in the matches vs South Africa and Benin Republic but will never get the accolades because of the end results.
Without William Troost-Ekong and Victor Osimhen, what was obvious in both matches watching the Super Eagles was the lack of leadership on the pitch. Nobody to drag the players forward, scream at underperfoming or overwhelmed players. Nobody to make them understand that they had a job to do and or drag the match by the scruff of the neck and get the job done.
When Calvin Bassey made the error that allowed Dossou to go score that equaliser it came at a time so against the run of play it was more than a shock. A leader on the pitch would have been able to drag everyone square and into shape and get them in tune to ensure that the rhythm they had been playing with previously would not be lost.
Instead, they proceeded to concede a second goal following a corner. Mounie found himself unmarked in a crowded penalty box to gleefully slam home what would prove to be the winner.
The skipper’s armband was never going to make Wilfred Ndidi a vocal proper leader, especially because his form has been pretty patchy. The Leicester man has had two internationals to forget.
Finidi George is not blameless in all this. Frankly, he carries the lion-share of the blame in his lack of leadership or authority in the teams he has chosen in both matches. It is very difficult to understand his reluctance to start with Victor Boniface in the Benin fixture especially following the draw days earlier in Uyo.
The Super Eagles had all of the second-half to get at least an equaliser vs Benin but they were not helped from the bench. Why did Terem Moffi start the half? Benin, in true Gernot Rohr style, went defensive, so why was Ndidi not moved back into defence and give the team more impetus with a better passer there?
Samuel Chukwueze had a rare very good game for Nigeria but was hurled off as was Iwobi. Head scratching substitutions.
In this round of qualifiers, Ghana have had to come from behind twice to win. In those matches vs Mali and CAR, their big game players of Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus and Jordan Ayew came correct and drove their country back into the game and ultimate victories. South Africa rely on Tebho Mokoena to get them going when things look bleak. On the bench, they could also count on Otto Addo and Hugo Broos to make changes to help them out.
Jose Peseiro found a formula to drag this bunch of Super Eagles players to an AFCON final. A serious Federation would have found a way to convince him to see the qualifiers through especially because of the manner with which Nigeria missed out last time around following the ill-timed sacking of Rohr.
Instead, things are now bleak. It would be really hard to see how the Super Eagles can make it to North America. As Nigerians usually say, “It would be well deserved.”
