Nigeria are in disarray — here’s why, and can Bafana capitalise?

Nigeria, as is customary, have a formidable team with a particularly promising attack exciting that country at the moment, but they are in disarray.

After an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, where they scored 22 goals and conceded four winning five games out of six, a clanger at the start of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers has left fans in that country seriously considering whether the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) should sack Portuguese coach José Peseiro before it’s too late.

A 1-1 draw at home to Lesotho in Uyo and the same scoreline, again needing to come from a goal down, away against Zimbabwe on Sunday shocked the proud football nation and threw World Cup qualifying group C wide open. Nigeria’s most notable group opponents, Bafana Bafana, took notice but could not capitalise and put themselves in a strong position to mount a challenge on being the first-placed team for a place in the first 48-side World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the US.

After beating Benin 2-1 in their opener in Durban, Hugo Broos’s South Africans slipped up on a near-waterlogged, poor synthetic pitch in Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Rwanda in Butare. Now much will depend on how well Bafana shrug that result off, and how successfully the Super Eagles and the NFF can extricate themselves from an even worse tangle.

The NFF is not blameless in its national team’s situation. It has added to the confusion. NFF board member Nse Essien drew ire after the draw against Zimbabwe for his stunning admission that: “If we had the money to give to [to Peseiro him off] we were going to relieve him” — essentially an admission the federation cannot afford to sack the coach.

This from an FA that attracted controversy when Super Falcons coach Randy Waldrum said he had not been paid for seven months and some of his players for two years arriving at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Last year Fifa had to order the NFF to pay one of Peseiro’s predecessors — Gernot Rohr, now Benin’s boss — $378,000 (R7.1m) in compensation after ending his contract early in 2021.

Many in Nigeria feel Peseiro will not do a promising Super Eagles — spearheaded by Napoli’s Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham target Victor Osimhen — justice at the Nations Cup. But the NFF’s admission of being cash-strapped has muddied the issue of whether it will pull the trigger.

Olisa Chukwumah, formerly a sports journalist for News Central TV in Nigeria and now Deutsche Welle’s West African correspondent, says the Lesotho and Zimbabwe results were so earth-shattering, most Nigerians feel Peseiro should go, even if he has not lost a qualifying match yet.

“We thought Lesotho was a blip then the second match against Zimbabwe the same thing happened, leaving them with just two points from a possible six in a group that for Nigeria should be easy-peasy bar Bafana Bafana,” Chukwumah told TimesLIVE Premium.

“This is a team that did not qualify for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. So it is disappointing for Nigerian fans that they had such a poor start for the qualifiers for 2026, even if they were able to qualify for the Nations Cup with flying colours.

“Osimhen wasn’t available this Fifa weekend. But the Super Eagles have so much attacking talent — Victor Boniface of Bayer Leverkusen, Ademola Lookman of Atalanta, Taiwo Awoniyi of Nottingham Forest — to be able to see off Lesotho and Zimbabwe without him.

“So there’ been a lot of stick thrown at the coach. Many are calling for his head because they see a disjointed style of play between the midfield and attack leading to lack of goals.

“They scored 10 goals against Sao Tome and Principe in a Nations Cup qualifier [10-0 in Agadir in June 2022, and Nigeria won the return home match 6-0 in Uyo in September this year, Osimhen scoring seven of the 16 goals], but you do see this scattergun approach.

“Watching the games you do see a problem — it’s being suspected it’s a coaching problem. Many are also pointing the finger at the NFF. We’ve had NFF officials quoted as saying they can’t fire the coach because they don’t have the money to.

“So it’s a bit of a devil and the deep blue sea situation. The Nations Cup is coming in January. Some have called for patience because Peseiro hasn’t lost a qualifier. But in all his 15 matches he’s won six and drawn six — it’s clear from a fan’s perspective the coach is a problem.

“Nigerians feel they have the best attack in Africa and many will agree. They should be going to the Nations Cup as favourites to win.”

A decision to fire Peseiro now, so Nigeria can have a fighting chance at the Nations Cup in Ivory Coast, could work out a few ways for Bafana.

Whoever comes in, unless the NFF can hastily arrange a few matches, will have no warm-up games and have to hit the ground running in Ivory Coast. Augustine Eguavoen, whose Super Eagles’ playing style won admirers winning all three group games in the 2021 Nations Cup in Cameron but bowed out to Tunisia in the last-16, knows the team. The 1990s playing legend seems a candidate to come back and earn quick results. He also could have longer-term potential to fix the World Cup qualifying campaign.

The next round of World Cup qualifiers are in June next year. If Nigeria — with Peseiro or another coach — have a decent Nations Cup, they have time to recoup for a fresh assault on World Cup group C, where, yes, Benin, Lesotho and Zimbabwe present “easy-peasy” matches by the Super Eagles’ standards to recoup points. Bafana have given Nigeria stiffer challenges in qualifiers in the last decade, but when the chips are down, the Super Eagles have notoriously had South Africa’s number.

If Bafana had drawn in Rwanda, four points at the top would mean they could worry less about a Nigeria charge in group C. Now they probably have to hope the disarray persists through the Nations Cup. Even if it does, and even if Hugo Broos’ team showed potential going a year unbeaten, the manner that run ended against Rwanda was a reminder of Bafana’s brittleness.

Still, there’s a chink in Nigeria’s armour. Can Bafana really capitalise and reach their first World Cup as a real qualifying team — not as hosts — since 2002? The next year-and-a-half will provide the answers.