By Ojieva Ehiosun
Fuludu
Former Super Eagles star, Edema Fuludu, has appealed to the Nigerian football fraternity not to write off the team yet in the race for the 2026 World Cup ticket.
Even though the one-time Delta Football Association chairman said the Super Eagles still have a chance of picking the ticket, he however, charged the technical crew headed by Eric Chelle, to work more on the defence, adding that the entire team did their best against Zimbabwe.
He argued that what happened in the game against Zimbabwe could happen to any team, stressing that what the players needed now is encouragement rather than villification.
“Actually it’s painful that the Super Eagles drew that home game against Warriors of Zimbabwe. Nigerians expected an outright win in that crucial game, but that is football for you. Failure to win that game has put us in a precarious situation, but not withstanding, I believe the Eagles will still qualify for the 2026 World Cup.”
“We have four more matches to decide whether we would be there or not. World Cup qualifiers is not a jamboree, and we can’t wish away any team. Every country in our group are potential World Cup teams.
The days are gone when you underrate teams. There are no more pushovers in modern day football, every country would want their national flag hoisted at the World Cup. That the Super Eagles did not win the game against Zimbabwe doesn’t mean they are out. They can still pull a surprise.
“Again, nobody should blame Victor Osimhen for his actions, as a point man for the Super Eagles, it is painful after that after scoring, the Eagles could not maintain that one goal lead. In my days, the coach will tell you to go lock up the defence when you know that you just have few minutes to go. It is actually devastating to play draw in that game,” he surmised.
