Former Super Eagles head coach, Sunday Oliseh has warned that Nigeria’s preparation for the 2030 World Cup is already three months behind and the Country runs the risk of missing out on a third consecutive tournament.
Nigeria last featured at the World Cup in 2018, suffering playoff heartbreaks for the 2022 and 2026 tournaments.
At the just concluded tournament in the USA, Mexico and Canada, Africa presented 10 teams who put up very strong performances.
Cabo Verde became fan favorites and their epic round 32 clash against Argentina put them firmly among the best performers – fans even voted their Goalkeeper, Vozinha, as the best in the tournament.
The small Island nation were so impressive Sunday Oliseh believes they will be a problem for Nigeria’s transiting team.
Oliseh, who featured at two World Cups with the Super Eagles, expressed concerns with the team’s slow rebuild and inconsistent performances.
He painted a grim picture, comparing Nigeria to Italy who also failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup but have now missed 3 straight tournaments.
‘It is difficult addressing the issues of Nigerian football because most of our people get emotional and the don’t allow for reason,’ Oliseh stated.
‘It s scary If we are not careful we will be repeating what happened to Italy; who missed a third straight World Cup tournament.
Oliseh: Super Eagles lacking Experienced Players
The former Super Eagles coach also identified some of the team’s shortcomings. He argued that the current lacked experience that could count against it in the race for the 2030 World Cup.
Comparing teams, Oliseh believes Cabo Verde now has an edge over Nigeria by virtue of the Island nation’s World Cup participation and Nigeria’s aging squad.
Also read: I joined ‘Big Team’ Bursaspor – Iheanacho breaks Silence on Shocking Move to Turkish Second tier
‘Imagine now in the next qualifiers that you are grouped with Cape Verde; they just got a huge World Cup experience.
‘The next group of players coming up against Cape Verde – if we find ourselves in the same group – will have no real World Cup experience because of their ages.
‘Only Iwobi and Ndidi featured at the 2018 tournament, we are talking in four years time.’
‘From that point of view we really are in danger.’
He continued:
‘When you have 220 million people there’s an advantage; you have the numbers, all you have to do is put your house in order. We have to act, in fact we are already running late.
‘Preparation for the next World Cup should have started 3 months ago.’
