{"id":835457,"date":"2025-03-20T11:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/chelle-finidi-or-peseiro-who-should-take-the-blame-if-nigeria-misses-the-2026-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T11:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T16:13:11","slug":"chelle-finidi-or-peseiro-who-should-take-the-blame-if-nigeria-misses-the-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/chelle-finidi-or-peseiro-who-should-take-the-blame-if-nigeria-misses-the-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelle, Finidi, or Peseiro: Who should take the blame if Nigeria misses the 2026 World Cup?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/NS-Announcement-Facebook-Soccernet.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p><img width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/03\/NS-Announcement-Facebook-Soccernet-750x422.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Chelle, Finidi, or Peseiro: Who should take the blame if Super Eagles misses the 2026 World Cup?\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   data-full-width=\"1920\" data-full-height=\"1080\"><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Malian tactician, Eric Chelle, has taken one of the toughest jobs as Nigeria\u2019s World Cup qualification campaign hangs by a thread, <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, as Nigeria sits at the second bottom of the Group C standings, it\u2019s time to ask the tough questions\u2014who is truly responsible for the mess?<\/p>\n<p>So far, the Super Eagles of Nigeria have managed just three points from a possible 12, sitting fifth in the qualifying group. It\u2019s a shocking reality for a team ranked 44 in the world and fifth in Africa.<\/p>\n<h2>Soccer How Did The Super Eagles of <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/tag\/nigeria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nigeria<\/a> Get Here?<\/h2>\n<p>It all started under Jose Peseiro, who failed to secure wins against Lesotho and Zimbabwe, settling for two disappointing draws\u2014one at home in Uyo and the other on neutral ground.<\/p>\n<p>Finidi George then stepped in but fared no better, picking up just one point from two crucial games\u2014a home draw against South Africa and a morale-damaging loss to Gernot Rohr\u2019s Benin Republic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_151177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-151177\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/02\/super-eagles-get-olisa-ndah-boost.html\/uyo-nigeria-september-07-olisa-ndah-of-nigeria-during-the-2025-africa-cup-of-nations-afcon-qualifier-match-between\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-151177\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/02\/imago1050072118-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Olisa Ndah for Super Eagles (Photo credit : Imago)\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\"  ><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-151177\">Olisa Ndah for Super Eagles (Photo credit : Imago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, the responsibility falls on the Franco-Malian tactician, Chelle, who is tasked with reviving Nigeria\u2019s qualification hopes.<\/p>\n<p>With four games left, he faces a daunting task to secure the only automatic ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.<\/p>\n<h2>Soccer Can <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/tag\/eric-chelle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chelle<\/a> Turn Things Around?<\/h2>\n<p>Chelle\u2019s first test will be to correct the mistakes of his predecessors and find a winning formula. The Super Eagles cannot afford any more slip-ups if they hope to avoid missing their second consecutive World Cup.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148728\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148728\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/01\/eric-chelle-besiktas-super-eagles.html\/remo-nigeria-january-14-eric-sa-kou-chelle-after-the-nigeria-football-federation-unveiled-the-new-head-coach-of-the-3\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-148728\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/01\/imago1057772418-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Nigeria Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  ><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148728\">Nigeria Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle. Photo by IMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But as the blame game continues, Chelle and his Super Eagles team are currently gearing up to secure all points when they lock horns the Wasps of Rwanda on Friday at the Amahoro Stadium, Kigali.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Soccer Ayomide Oguntimehin\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ayomide-Oguntimehin-pics-150x150.jpg\"  height=\"80\" width=\"80\">\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/author\/ayomide-oguntimehin-2\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Editor at Soccernet.ng, with a proven track record in conducting interviews with Super Eagles stars such as William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ademola Lookman, and many others. He has also made a significant impact in breaking transfer news stories.<\/p>\n<p>Grounded in video editing, video journalism, social media management, and content strategy, Ayomide brings a wealth of expertise to his work.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/03\/nigeria-chelle-finidi-peseiro.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Malian tactician, Eric Chelle, has taken one of the toughest jobs as Nigeria\u2019s World Cup qualification campaign hangs by a thread, Soccernet.ng reports. Meanwhile, as Nigeria sits at the second bottom of the Group C standings, it\u2019s time to ask the tough questions\u2014who is truly responsible for the mess? So far, the Super Eagles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":835458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140853,128252,2005],"tags":[140851,128251],"class_list":{"0":"post-835457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chelle","8":"category-finidi","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-chelle","11":"tag-finidi"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}