2026 World Cup: Former Super Eagles star, Etim Esin expresses fear for Nigeria

Former Super Eagles star, Etim Esin has carpeted the Nigeria Football Federation for what he termed “their care free approach to Nigeria’s bid to secure a ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.

In a chat with Sports Vanguard, Etim expressed fears about Nigeria’s chances given that steps taken so far have been fundamentally wrong.

Said he, “As far as I am concerned, the World Cup is a forgotten story.” He said that one of the lapses was the engagement of Coach Eric Chelle for the Super Eagles. “Who is he? What is his CV?”

Etim doubted the technical capacity of coach Chelle, insisting that only those who recruited him saw in him what the rest of the country could not. “How do they give the job to a French man when we are not French speaking?”

Erin cannot defend his opposition on grounds of communication because Chelle speaks English.

Continuing, Etim questioned Chelle’s pedigree,“What is his CV? What has he won, or does he want to use Nigeria to boost his profile? They are just using us. How many of the players know him?

Super Eagles coach, Chelle
“The administrators do not have much to offer. All they are concerned about is money…money and money to the detriment of Nigerian football. We didn’t qualify for the last World Cup, nobody lost his job. Nothing happened, so they don’t care.”

The former Super Eagles maestro maintained that for Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup means the Super Eagles will have to win the remaining matches, while others like Rwanda, South Africa and Republic of Benin would stumble along the way.

“World Cup?” he quipped, “I don’t think we can qualify. Will Coach Chelle be able to command the confidence of the players in the dressing room? They don’t care whether we qualify or not. I wish we could but the odds are against us.”

Nigeria’s hopes of reaching the 2026 FIFA World Cup are hanging by a thread.

The Africa Cup of Nations runners-up are winless in their first four matches in CAF Group C, with a 2-1 loss to Benin last time out following three consecutive draws..

Nigeria lies 5th on three points from four matches. The Super Eagles are behind group leaders Rwanda, South Africa and Benin all on 7 points and Lesotho on five points. In view of the precarious position the Super Eagles have found themselves, coach Eric Chelle has his job cut out. As qualifiers resume next month with a crucial away clash against the Amavubi of Rwanda in Kigali and a home clash against Zimbabwe, it is expected that the Eagles will fight back to reckoning with victories from the two encounters as anything short of that could spell doom for Nigeria’s World Cup aspirations.