Former international Taye Taiwo has criticized Nigeria’s poor qualifying campaign as they bid to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The Super Eagles have been underwhelming throughout the entire qualifying campaign and are in a tough position to seal a return to football’s biggest stage after missing out in 2022.
The three-time African champions welcome the Cheetahs of Benin Republic later today, in their final group game and must win to stand any chance of reaching next year’s tournament.
Nigeria have accrued just 14 points from a possible 27 and despite losing just once, they only won three of their nine matches.
They must now beat Benin Republic and hope that South Africa fail to defeat Rwanda for them to finish top of the group.
As it stands, Benin Republic are first on the standings with 17 points, two ahead of second-placed South Africa, while Nigeria are third with 14 points.
Taye Taiwo disappointed with qualifying struggles
Speaking in an interview, the former Super Eagles left-back believes the team possess enough quality to secure qualification comfortably, but have rather turned in disappointing results.
“It’s a shame. Upon all the good players we have playing for good clubs, it’s a shame that we can’t make it to the World Cup. We have a lot of good players; we have the quality to qualify. It’s just a minor thing that becomes a big thing for us”, the former defender revealed.
“If you are going for the World Cup, you need to start early. Because for the World Cup, there is no time to wait for anybody. If you see Egypt and Tunisia, they started early — they won all their games,” he added.
“They can afford to rest players now. But for us, we can’t do that — we have to keep using the same players because we desperately need the points.”
