Former Super Eagles’ striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni has slammed the current Nigerian national team over what he described as lack of teamwork and poor passing ratio in the squad, Sports247 reports.
The former Portsmouth, Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers of England hitman took another look at the Eagles’ 1-1 draw with South Africa and blamed the setback on lack of continuous passing ability among the Nigerian players.
He noted further that the team is also guilty of relying on one or two individuals in the squad, then faulted all critics who scolded skipper of the side, William Troost-Ekong, for scoring an own goal in the game.
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Yak Attack’ took his mind back to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, when he missed a crucial scoring chance against Korea, which ultimately stopped Nigeria from qualifying for the second round, but he reasoned that players should not be abused for making mistakes while playing for the country.
He posited with affirmation, “Before this, people were talking about me missing a goal, but now everyone is talking about the captain, William Ekong, because he scored an own goal. So what?
“It happens, but Nigerians have to understand that we should not be waiting to put blame on players one after the other. They are now saying it’s because of this guy we will not go to the World Cup.”
Rather than join in taking a swipe at Ekong and casting all blame about Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup qualification fiasco on him, ‘Yaku-Bull’ recounted the Eagles’ captain’s assets and cited poor teamwork as the squad’s biggest minus.
He reasoned further, “For me, missing goals makes me upset, and I’m sad on the plane, but that does not mean I should get insults. It should not be so.
“Ekong is a leader in that team, and though he made a mistake, we have to admit that South Africa passed the ball better than us. We could not put together six to seven passes.
“We would pass the ball a bit, then kick it long. But, the truth is, we cannot build a team like that. We don’t play as a team, and we rely on individual football.”
Yakubu concluded by stressing that proper teamwork and accurate passing are basic strategies that can help the Eagles get back to winning ways, as he posited: “It’s individual football that we play; yet we want (Ademola) Lookman and (Victor) Osimhen to make magic.”
