Former Super Eagles’ defender, Juwon Oshaniwa has added his voice to critical comments trailing the Nigerian national team’s poor run of results in the FIFA 2025 World Cup qualifiers, but blamed it on inability of the country’s football administrators to get things done properly.
Sports247 reports that the now 35-year-old Oshaniwa, who shot to limelight while playing for Sharks FC of Port Harcourt before moving to SC Ashdod of Israel in 2012, added that players in the national team need not be blamed all the time the squad gets bad results.
He argued further, “We cannot keep holding those players responsible for every poor outcome in the qualifiers of any competition. Let’s be factual … when you fail to prepare well, you can’t succeed. There’s no rocket science about that.”
The former left-full-back at Hearts FC of Scotland also pointed out that the Super Eagles have failed to shine in recent matches because other countries are catching up fast with Nigeria, but the three-tine African champions have failed to grow in the same range
Oshaniwa affirmed, “Gone are the days when one country … be it Argentina or Brazil … will dominate or say they are the ones to always win. Everybody is improving when it comes to football.
That’s why we should start talking about people managing the administrative aspect of the game. They are still roughly not getting it right.”
Oshaniwa, who also played for Kwara United of Ilorin, Lobi Stars of Makurdi and Akwa United of Uyo, concluded with a view that the array of stars on offer for the Eagles should ordinarily make them unstoppable, but reckoned that poor administrative back-up has made the squad vulnerable in recent years.
“On paper, we should be qualifying out of that group without any stress. But, we can see how the whole thing is now playing out.
“Football is not being played on paper. It is a practical game in which you have to go there and do real action. That’s what we can’t do, and it’s affecting us,” Oshaniwa submitted.
