By Charles Udoh
Football will always find a way to humble you, but what happened last Sunday in Morocco was beyond humility—it was heartbreak. Painful. Avoidable. Embarrassing. A script we have watched too many times and are tired of rehearsing. How does a team that scores an early goal, in a match of this magnitude, still contrive to lose it? How do the Super Eagles, with all our history and talent, fall apart against Congo DRC on the final step to the World Cup?
Sometimes, you almost wonder whether someone pressed a cosmic reset button on our football fortunes. But the truth is simpler—and far more uncomfortable.
A Team That Looked Jinxed — But Really Isn’t
When Nigeria grabbed that early goal, the entire nation exhaled. For a moment, we believed again. We tasted the World Cup. Hope—Nigeria’s most abundant natural resource—was alive.
But hope without structure is nothing but momentary excitement.
We lost grip. Congo grew stronger. Nigeria grew confused. By the time the game stumbled into penalties, the entire country already felt the familiar fear tightening around our chest.
And the worst happened—again.
No Fight, No Spirit, No Identity
The painful truth is that the Super Eagles did not play with the urgency required for a World Cup playoff final. No fire. No grit. No anger. No desire. Nothing resembling a team that understood the weight of the jersey they wore.
Congo DRC, on the other hand, played like men going to war. We played like men going to lunch.
How can a country with this much talent consistently look this lifeless? How do we keep turning giants into shadows? At this rate, perhaps we truly should have allowed Benin Republic to take our place—they at least fought like they wanted it.
The “Voodoo Comedy” of It All
And then—because Nigerian football is never complete without drama—came the comic-tragic side show.
After the match, Coach Eric Chelle ignited controversy by accusing a member of DR Congo’s technical staff of performing what he called “voodoo gestures” behind the Congolese goalkeeper during the penalty shootout.
Some Nigerians laughed.
Some felt insulted.
Some shrugged—after all, African football has always carried the myth, humour, and theatre of superstition.
But whether true, exaggerated, or simply convenient pain-induced imagination, the narrative of “DR Congo using juju” became the street joke of the night. Clips circulated. Memes erupted. People joked that perhaps it wasn’t our tactics that failed—maybe it was “their village people that were stronger.”
Even the Congolese fans replied online with their own comedy, insisting their “ritual” was simply passion, psychology, or a harmless distraction tactic.
But behind the humour lies a bitter truth:
Better management, better preparation, and better mentality would make such stories irrelevant. Strong teams do not fear gestures—they impose themselves regardless of theatrics.
The real “juju” of football is preparation, structure, and discipline. And on that front, Nigeria failed woefully.
Technical and Tactical Mismanagement
Penalty shootouts are not just about luck—they are about mental readiness, coaching clarity, and emotional control. Nigeria had none of these.
The substitutions lacked clarity.
The team shape collapsed under pressure. The coaching crew looked helpless the moment Congo equalised. And in the shootout, our players walked forward like men resigned to fate.
Where was the psychological coaching?
Where was the leadership?
Where was the plan?
You cannot win big games on vibes and talent alone.
A Pattern of Neglect
This defeat is not surprising to anyone who has observed the decline of Nigerian football over the past decade. We always start qualifiers badly. We always depend on favours from other teams. We always fire coaches midstream. We always allow administrative chaos to seep into the dressing room.
Our football problems are structural, chronic, and predictable.
We are a football nation without a football system.
What Must Change Now
If Nigeria must avoid becoming a nostalgic has-been, we need a total reset:
1. Administrative Reform
The NFF must stop running football like a struggling buka.
2. Coaching Authority
Give a competent coach freedom, resources, and time.
3. Youth Development
Integrate young talent deliberately, not by accident.
4. Accountability
Hold everyone—from federation to players—responsible for failure.
5. Football Philosophy
Build an identity and stick to it, not chop-and-change chaos after every loss.
The Truth We Must Finally Accept
At some point, we must stop looking for ghosts where mismanagement reigns. Our heartbreaks are not spiritual. Our defeats are not mystical. Our failures are not because luck abandoned us. They are the predictable results of a football ecosystem that refuses to build, refuses to plan, and refuses to evolve.
Nigerian Football is not jinxed.
Nigerian Football is not unlucky.
Nigerian Football is simply unmanaged.
And until we confront that truth with honesty and courage, even the brightest talents will continue to dim under the weight of chronic incompetence.
Udoh is the Managing Director of Ibom Hotels, Uyo
