It’s time to soar!

The 2026 World Cup playoffs in Africa are just a few days away. All eyes are already on Rabat, Morocco for what could correctly be an unprecedented football fiesta for the neutrals. What a frightening line up of African football gladiators as Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon battle it out for a single ticket to the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico in March 2026.

The final destination, of course, remains the 2026 FIFA Senior Men’s World Cup in the USA/Canada and Mexico. The fact that this presents a ‘second chance at life’ for these teams gives an intriguing outlook to the showdown.

From a Nigerian perspective, this is more than just any opportunity to make good a poor and underwhelming 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, it is a ‘Save Nigerian Football’ mission. An accurate analogy could be that of an accident victim in a coma, rushed to the hospital and placed on life support in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). For days, all hope seemed lost because there was no sign of life. Contemplations were that the life support machine should be switched off. Just at that point, the medics noticed a little movement, a sign of life, some ray of hope and so they decided to leave the life support machine on for a bit longer.

Another analogy could also be the ‘Stay of Execution’ of a court order on an accused. While the coast for freedom is not completely clear yet, the accused has succeeded in buying some time. The Super Eagles are locked in a fierce cage fight with Panthers, Lions and Leopards. In a ground fight, the Eagle will stand no chance against these huge, dangerous and wild cats but if the Eagle soars as it should, then it will be in a world of its own. So to the dear Super Eagles of Nigeria, it is time to soar.

A few points that will be crucial to the playoffs, from a Nigerian perspective, will be highlighted below.

Mental, physical and tactical tattles
The 2026 World Cup playoffs will be a ‘no holds barred’, last man standing kind of contest. There will be no room for dilly-dallying. From now on, every game is a final. You are on your own. The Super Eagles will have to hit the ground running…sorry they have to hit the skies from the get go.

Coach Eric Chelle’s assignment will be to reproduce what Nigerians saw on Match Day 10 of the qualifiers in Uyo in that game against Benin Republic. Although not a perfect game (are there perfect games?), the Super Eagles played with urgency and on the front foot. Defensively, the team was switched on for large spells and thankfully, the few moments of lapses in concentration went unpunished. Against Gabon, Chelle would need to tell his players that any lapse in concentration could prove fatal. The Panthers can hurt anyone if allowed to.

Proper opposition scouting
At this point, it is expected that the Super Eagles coaches have done a thorough, extensive scouting report on Gabon and also put some bits together on Cameroon and DR Congo. Ordinarily, the technical department of the Nigeria Football Federation, headed by former international, Augustine Eguavoen, should have played a role in helping to put these scouting reports together.

Please permit this digression. While serving as the Media Officer of the Super Eagles, I picked up something positive from Coach Gernot Rohr who never joked with thorough opposition scouting. There was an instance where he demanded a scouting report on the match officials. He wanted to know the number of cautions – yellow and red cards that the referee had issued in recent games, the language he spoke fluently and his personality type. Does he smile a lot, keep a straight face or frown? Rohr would then prepare his technical sessions with the players with the answers he got from these posers.The point here is that no extent is too far to reach in scouting the opposition.

Total focus/zero Distraction
The Nigeria Football Federation has to ensure there are no other matters preoccupying the minds of the coaches and players outside of the football to be played on the pitch. The coaches and the team officials also have a duty to ensure that the players maintain maximum levels of discipline and focus in camp.

Motivation/support
The National Sports Commission and the Nigeria Football Federation should live up to their responsibilities of keeping the team properly motivated for these playoff games. All issues about outstanding bonuses and allowances to the coaches, players and their officials should be addressed immediately. The Federal Government sees the participation of Nigeria at the 2026 World Cup finals as a national project. This should be properly communicated to the players and their coaches.

Hunger for success/commitment
These playoff games are not for the faint hearted or lily-livered. The team that wants it the most will most likely get it. Without any doubt, the Super Eagles have the best collection of talents among the competitors but that will count for nothing if the talents are lacking in the hunger for success or the commitment to give their 100 per cent on the pitch to earn the African slot to Mexico in March 2026. So needed for Nigeria in Rabat are dogged fighters and  warriors who are ready to lay it all on the pitch.

VAR is back!
There will be Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) at the playoffs. So all goals will be double checked before they are allowed to stand. For the players, there will be the need to have controlled emotions and temperament. They will have to avoid retaliatory action, unnecessary cautions and all forms of disrespect to their opponents and match officials.

Practice penalties
At this stage, every game must produce a winner. How victory is achieved will be secondary, so there will be zero margins for errors or slips. It will not be out of place to expect that the matches may be really close and could drag beyond regulation time to extra time and even Penalty Shoot Out (PSO). Coach Eric Chelle and the players will do well to factor in all these possibilities.

Welcome back, Maduka Okoye
It is such a relief to see Udinese of Italy first choice goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, back in the Super Eagles squad after serving out his betting induced ban.
Okoye is strutting his stuff at the level that is higher than that of his competitors. After his ban, he has walked back ‘effortlessly’ into the starting line up of his Italian club and turned out decent performances and some clean sheets. The national team coaches will most likely still stick with Stanley Nwabali as the first choice for the playoffs but it is good to have some healthy competition and rivalry around to keep Nwabali on his toes.

It is time to soar, dear Super Eagles…
#SoarSuperEagles.