Super Eagles forward Terem Moffi has lamented Nigeria’s World Cup miss, stressing that the next tournament may arrive too late for some players in the present squad, www.aclsports.com reports.
Moffi, who recently made a return to the squad after being out due to injury issues, was part of Nigeria’s squad for the 2023 AFCON, where the Super Eagles lost to hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the final in Abidjan.
The 27-year-old also featured in five of Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, as the Super Eagles failed to secure qualification for consecutive World Cups for the first time in their history.
“That’s what the fans don’t understand. The World Cup is every four years, and not everyone gets to be a part of that,” the ex-Lorient striker told AY Suga in an interview.
Nigeria may have to wait until the 2030 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, to secure qualification. The FC Porto loanee believes that many of the current crop of players may no longer be part of the team by the time the tournament comes around.
“We’ve missed two World Cups now. It’s devastating for the fans, but even more so for us. I’m 27 now, in the next World Cup I’ll be 31, and most of the squad will be in their 30’s as well. It’s almost impossible for us to be there if we’re being totally honest.
“Young players will come in. The oldest in the squad right now is Semi [32], so, going by that, it’ll be quite difficult. For some of us, we might have to watch from home. How do we tell our children that we had two chances to be at the World Cup and we didn’t take them? It’s horrible to think about,” Terem Moffi concluded.
Among the current Super Eagles squad, only Alex Iwobi, Francis Uzoho, Chidozie Awaziem, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Wilfred Ndidi were at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
