Former Nigeria national team coach Johannes Bonfrère has exclusively told Completesports.com of his disappointment over the Super Eagles’ failure to win Tuesday’s crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Warriors of Zimbabwe in Uyo.
Bonfrère, who assisted fellow Dutchman Clemens Westerhof in guiding the Super Eagles to their 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification and an AFCON triumph in Tunisia, spoke from his home in the Netherlands on Wednesday morning.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ: Super Eagles’ Impatience, Poor Game Management Cost Win Against Zimbabwe —Akuneto
The former Nigeria U23 coach, who led the Dream Team to a historic gold medal feat at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics after a 3-2 victory over Argentina in the final, believes the Super Eagles’ 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe has put Nigeria’s World Cup qualification in serious jeopardy.
“How do you expect to qualify for the World Cup if you don’t win games?” Bonfrère queried rhetorically.
“In the past, if we didn’t beat Zimbabwe 3-0 or 4-0, the fans would throw stones at us.
“With the huge number of Super Eagles players in top European leagues, a 1-1 draw with Zimbabwe is unacceptable. I don’t see how they can qualify for the World Cup, except maybe through the play-offs.
“If that happens, good. But it’s embarrassing that the Super Eagles are struggling against teams they should be beating convincingly.”
When asked what went wrong in the game, Bonfrère criticised the team’s lack of cutting edge in attack and questioned the tactics employed.
Also Read: 2026 WCQ: I’m Disappointed For My Players, Nigerians –Chelle
“I didn’t watch the game, but did the coach not have enough information on Zimbabwe? Did he use the wrong tactics? Or did the players fail to execute the game plan?
“Was it a loss of concentration? Why couldn’t the attackers score more goals? If they had put away two or three chances, Zimbabwe’s late goal wouldn’t have mattered as much.
“It’s sad, painful, and unfortunate. Small teams are now looking the Super Eagles in the eye and asking, ‘What can you do?’ No team fears them anymore, and that is worrying,” Bonfrère lamented.
By Sab Osuji
7 Comments
Truth be said we are living on past glory. There is nothing super about the eagles in recent years. The player are talented but uncordinated and not motivated enough. osimhen and maybe 2 or 3 others shows the desire to excel. Others are just happy with being successful professionals and that’s all that matters to them. No coach will work any magic where such atmosphere exist.
Go and watch the game first oga former Olympic coach and stop making emotional statements!
The SE played well and deserve a comfortable victory against a very determined and proud Zimbabwe side. They were just unlucky with poor finishing and wastefulness because of anxiousness. It was just a very bad day at the office and I can’t fault the players who were tired at the end due to the intensity and physical application after 80mins.
Bonfrere should stop living in the past. The game had progressed since 1994 and there are no minions anymore in African football. Every small country have invested and developed their football and now measure Dick with the former big boys of Africa. Ghana with 4 AFCON titles did not even qualify for 2025 Afcon displaced by war turn Sudan and Angola from their qualifying group.
No, Bonfrere is not living in the past, he is sounding a wake up call to all the remaining right thinking people.
The game moved on but NFF refused to move on when the so called smaller countries moved on.
The interest of NFF is in something else, not football, as it is obvious. NFF are not always the losers, it is the people because NFF gets paid and compensated for their ineptitude through estacodes, allowances and salaries.
Being a Super Eagles fan nowadays is nothing more than an exercise in futility.
It’s like pouring water into a basket, when you know that all the water will leak out!
We keep supporting a team that is run by incompetent buffoons in the Glass House whose primary interest is lining their pockets with filthy lucre. Our support is wasted, because the officials we have entrusted our football with don’t give a hoot about our football! Until we replace these chumps with a competent NFF board, a competent technical department led by a competent technical director, we will keep underperforming.
We the fans need to mobilize, and become more demanding.
We want to know what exactly is going on in the Glass House. What is a typical day like? Officials come into the office, what exactly do they attempt to get done?
Our officials just failed to give us a team that can beat ordinary Zimbabwe right here on our home turf. So the question is, what have they been doing all these time? If we are to measure their competence based on the performance of the team, obviously their production is just not good enough.
We need a personnel audit done at the Glass House asap. Who is working there, and what the heck is their job? What are their deliverables? Who is tracking their performance?
If people are not ready to work, for crying out loud, let’s start sacking them! Get rid of any dead woods, and bring in productive, competent people who care genuinely about our football.
Well said bro I’m yet to understand what the NFFs modus operandi looks like other than synthetic opulence and unfiltered corruption. We the people seriously need to do something about this lot.