Coach Eric Chelle addresses media men after Nigeria's shameful loss to Guinea-Bissau in their 2027 AFCON qualifier on Tuesday. (Photo cr...
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| Coach Eric Chelle addresses media men after Nigeria's shameful loss to Guinea-Bissau in their 2027 AFCON qualifier on Tuesday. (Photo credit: GOAL) |
Last Tuesday, Nigerians sat down to watch a football match and ended up needing a glass of water, a Panadol and a long, quiet stare at the ceiling.
The Super Eagles travelled to Bissau to play Guinea-Bissau in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and came back with a 3-0 defeat. Yes, three goals. Yes, to Guinea-Bissau. No, we are not joking, though many of us wish we were.
Franculino Djú opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a lovely curler into the far corner, the kind of goal that makes you applaud and cry at the same time. Mama Balde then danced past Bright Osayi-Samuel like a man avoiding a pothole on the Third Mainland Bridge and beat Stanley Nwabali for the second. Alvaro Djalo finished it off late, when Nigeria were pushing forward looking for a way back, and the Eagles got caught on the counter.
Nigeria did create a few chances. Substitutes came on, corners were won, and one decent opportunity was wasted. But "we tried" is not a scoreline.
The pitch was reportedly bumpy, and we hear this complaint every time. At some point the federation must understand that poor pitches are not a surprise. They are a recurring guest, like NEPA, and you plan for them.
This defeat was the Eagles' first competitive loss to an African opponent by three clear goals since Algeria beat them 5-1 at the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations. That was 36 years ago. Some of the players on the pitch were not even born, and some of their parents were still deciding on baby names.
It also ended Eric Chelle's unbeaten competitive run in regulation time, and it was Guinea-Bissau's biggest ever win over Nigeria. Somewhere in Bissau, a man is telling his grandchildren about this day, and he will keep telling it until he is very old.
In Group L, Guinea-Bissau now have six points and Nigeria have three, after a 2-1 comeback win over Madagascar in the opening game. Tanzania, as co-hosts, are already through. That means Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar are fighting for one remaining spot, which makes the group look like a danfo bus at rush hour: everyone shouting, one seat left.
Before we assign blame to a single unfortunate night, let's approach the situation with fairness. The problems are older than Tuesday.
Nigeria missed the 2026 World Cup after losing a penalty shootout to DR Congo, 4-3. Then came the AFCON in Morocco, where the Eagles gave us hope, lost to the hosts on penalties, and picked up bronze by beating Egypt on penalties. We have become a country that qualifies for heartbreak by shootout.
We have also met Guinea-Bissau in this kind of mood before. In 2023, they beat the Eagles 1-0 in Abuja, when they were ranked 118th in the world. Back then, people called it a shock. Three years later, with a 3-0, it is starting to look like a pattern, and a pattern is just a shock that has stopped being surprised.
Here is where it gets interesting, because football in Nigeria is not just about eleven men on a pitch. It is also about the people in suits who run the game: the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Sports Commission (NSC).
After the AFCON bronze, the NSC was eager to extend Chelle's contract, while the NFF said no such talks were planned. Two bodies, one coach, two completely different stories. It was like two people at a party, one saying, "Let's go home together," and the other saying, "Who are you?"
The NSC also made the point that it pays the coach's salary, which means it feels entitled to a say. That is fair. But when the one paying and the one running the show cannot agree in public, the coach and the players are left wondering who the real boss is. In Nigeria we know this feeling well: it is called "too many cooks, one pot of soup, no salt".
Back in January, there was already a warning that the NFF and NSC should not repeat the mistakes they made after Gernot Rohr and Jose Peseiro left, when the gap in planning led to a shaky start to World Cup qualifying. Did the warning land? As of Tuesday, the message may still be sitting in someone's WhatsApp, "seen" but not replied to.
At Chelle's unveiling, the NSC chairman said that if the NFF succeeds, the NSC succeeds, and if the NFF fails, the NSC fails. Beautiful words. By that logic, Bissau was a joint failure. Nobody should be allowed to say "not my department".
Everybody wants one name, but life is not that simple. The coach must answer for the tactics and the defending, which looked like a long weekend. The players must answer for the errors. The federation and the commission must answer for the confusion, the planning and the preparation.
And then there is the bigger issue we like to ignore: the league, the grassroots, the coaching education, and the pitches. You cannot harvest a big tree you never planted. If the league and the youth teams are neglected, we will keep depending on the same overseas talent and hoping for luck.
What now?
The Eagles are due to play Russia in a friendly on 6 October in Nizhny Novgorod. A friendly cannot fix a qualifying campaign, but it is a chance to show some life and maybe a bit of pride.
Here is a simple wish list for the people in charge:
Speak with one voice. Whatever you decide about Chelle, decide it together, announce it together, and please do not announce it twice in two different ways.
Tell us what went wrong. Do a proper review and share it. We are adults; we can handle the truth, though it may come with groaning.
Plan for the remaining games. Check the pitches, sort out the travel, settle the squad, and stop treating every away match like a surprise.
Fix the roots. Invest in the league and the youth system, not just in speeches.
Final whistle
Nigeria is still a three-time African champion with some of the most talented players on the continent, and the campaign is not over. Four games remain, and a team with this much quality can still turn things around.
But "we are Nigeria" is not a plan. Pride alone does not win matches, and neither does shouting at the television. What wins matches is preparation, unity and basic competence, three free things, though nobody seems to want to collect them.
Until then, dear fan, keep your Panadol close and your expectations managed. And may the next time we see Guinea-Bissau's name on a fixture list, it be accompanied by a nice, boring win.
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