Former Super Eagles defender, Chikelue Iloenyosi (aka General) has come out with an ominous yet down-to-earth verdict that some players in Nigeria’s current national team set up will never play at the FIFA World Cup during their careers.
Sports247 reports that Iloenyosi, who is now the chairman of Anambra State Football Association (ANSFA), went on to put the blame for Nigeria’s second straight absence from the Mundial on the shoulders of the Eagles’ players, who he believes took the qualifiers with lefty.
He reckoned further that Nigeria’s flag would have been flying high at the ongoing competition in USA, Canada and Mexico had the players been more committed, better focused and without any form of overconfidence in their approach to the qualifiers.
The former Turkey-based ex-centre back, who shot into limelight in the Nigerian under-20 team at the 1999 World Youth Championship hosted by the country, after which he played four senior international games, stressed that it is a sad setback for the nation.
While acknowledging that the players have also admitted that they are to blame for missing the ticket to USA/Canada/Mexico 2026, Iloenyosi expressed hope for better days ahead, saying the current coach, Eric Chelle, is showing great signs with his tactical approach.
Iloenyosi, who also previously played for Al-Ittihad of Libya, declared: “How can I be happy? The players are also feeling very, very bad. If they have a chance to be in the World Cup, they will be in this World Cup to prove themselves.
“Unfortunately, we did not qualify for the World Cup. Why we did not qualify is the players. It’s the fault of the players and they are even blaming themselves. Some in the national team might not see the World Cup again because of their age.
“They are not happy. I’m not happy we did not qualify for the World Cup, because we’ve now got a coach that came to stabilise the team. If you see the standard of the games we are playing now, you can know this coach wants the team to improve.”
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