Former midfielder, Sylvanus Okpala has revealed that Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup tournament has dimmed.
Okpala made this known during a recent interview, where he explained how he tried to reach out to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) authorities on how he could help the team qualify for the global tournament.
He stated that he volunteered to work with the Super Eagles without collecting salaries and expressed his displeasure that former coach of the side, Austin Eguavoen was not allowed to continue with the team, while also revealing that his efforts were not welcomed.
“When we had six matches left in the qualifiers, our destiny was still in our hands. Now our destiny is no longer in our hands,” Okpala said.
“Austin Eguavoen was doing well as the Super Eagles’ manager. Why remove him? I cried out and advised the NFF to leave Eguavoen to prosecute the remaining six matches in the World Cup qualifiers and we would qualify for the World Cup.
“I said if they doubted me, they should allow me to join Eguavoen as a coach, and we would qualify for the World Cup. I even wrote to the football authorities to allow me to join Eguavoen in the coaching crew. I did it with the late Stephen Keshi. I warned them not to bring a foreigner. I told them that the problem with Nigerian football can only be solved by Nigerians.
“I went as far as telling them not to pay me salaries. I told them to pay me only camp allowances and match bonuses whenever we won any match, they should not pay me salaries. But I suggested that we would have a written agreement that if we qualified for the World Cup, I would be entitled to an agreed amount of money.
“All I said fell on deaf ears and they went ahead and brought a foreigner (Eric Chelle).
“Then we still had six games in the World Cup qualifying race. Our destiny of going to the World Cup was in our hands.”
Okpala explained that Nigeria is in a precarious state, as their victories in the qualifying games will not be enough to make the team qualify for the mundial.
“But, today, it’s no longer in our hands. We now not only have to win all our remaining matches, but we need other countries to go and win their matches for us to qualify for the World Cup. You can imagine that,” he added.
Okpala was an assistant coach to late Stephen Keshi, when Nigeria won the 2013 African Cup of Nations trophy in South Africa.
