{"id":854854,"date":"2025-06-11T17:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T22:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/ex-super-eagles-star-defends-boniface-amidst-retirement-rumours\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T22:12:12","slug":"ex-super-eagles-star-defends-boniface-amidst-retirement-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/ex-super-eagles-star-defends-boniface-amidst-retirement-rumours\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Super Eagles star defends Boniface amidst retirement rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Former Super Eagles and Anderlecht defender, Mobi Patrick Oparaku, has urged Nigerians to be more patient in their treatment of Bayer 04 Leverkusen striker, Victor Okoh Boniface, <a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/\">Soccernet.ng<\/a> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old enjoyed a brilliant debut season with <em>Die Werkself<\/em>, winning the DFB Pokal and the Bundesliga titles, and earning himself a call-up to the Nigerian National team, although he missed the AFCON 2023 tournament due to an adductor problem.<\/p>\n<p>For all of Boniface&#8217;s excellence in Germany, he has yet to replicate the same form for the Super Eagles. Although he&#8217;s been largely a second fiddle to Victor Osimhen in the national team, he&#8217;s not been impressive whenever he has an opportunity to start.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164443\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164443\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1061389077-1024x683.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164443\">Bundesliga, Matchday 31, Bayer 04 Leverkusen FC Augsburg, Victor Boniface. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><strong>Get Our Sports News First \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VagMHLcA89MZvw0Btc21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE;<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/boniface-super-eagles.html\">\u201cI don hang boot\u201d: Boniface\u2019s deleted post and the pressure of Super Eagles jersey<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/super-eagles-boniface-tenhag.html\">Erik Ten Hag sanctions sale of Super Eagles attacker, prepares replacement<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/russia-vs-nigeria-boniface-arokodare-super-eagles.html\"><strong>Russia vs Nigeria: What Boniface said to Arokodare after first Super Eagles goal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_148590\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-148590\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/01\/imago1054361767-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Soccer Super Eagles' Victor Boniface\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-148590\">Victor Boniface of Nigeria and Rwanda defenders during the Men&#8217;s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON qualifier match between Nigeria and Rwanda [Photo credit\/Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Boniface was given a rare start by Eric Chelle against Russia last Friday, but again, his performance fell short, as he mustered just one shot on target and completed eight passes in his time on the pitch before he made way for Tolu Arokodare in the 61st minute.<\/p>\n<p>The Genk striker scored the equaliser for the Super Eagles, which was his first for the Nigerian National team. On the flip side, a frustrated Boniface took to his Instagram Page to announce his retirement from the Super Eagles.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Victor-Boniface-on-IG-1-1024x418.jpeg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"418\"  ><\/p>\n<p>He eventually took the post down, but his decision sparked several conversations as to whether a mentality like his is right for the three-time AFCON Champions.<\/p>\n<p>However, Oparaku jumped to the defence of the former Union Saint-Gilloise striker, claiming his effort on the pitch should at least count for something.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt has been a long season, most players are already mentally fatigued and just want to go on break.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is a good player who has simply struggled to find his best form with the Super Eagles, but Boniface is not a player who doesn\u2019t show heart on the pitch,\u201d the ex-Enyimba International defender told <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brila.net\/leave-victor-boniface-alone-criticism-too-harsh-oparaku\/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=leave-victor-boniface-alone-criticism-too-harsh-oparaku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brila<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_156986\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-156986\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/imago1058543403-1024x683.jpg\" alt width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  ><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-156986\">DFB Cup: Quarterfinal Victor Boniface of Bayer 04 Leverkusen celebrates his goal with Nathan Tella. [Photo Credit\/ Imago].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While Boniface&#8217;s troubles in the National Team continue, his club manager, Erik Ten Hag, has urged him to find a new club, as he&#8217;s not a part of his plans for the 2025\/2026 season.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img alt=\"Soccer Adefolahan Guerreiro\" src=\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f64d35abfd960f4a5a400c4bb517f7f0be6c48b655560fbdd37e59d9fc9ca58?s=80&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g\"  height=\"80\" width=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\">\t\t<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/author\/guerreiro\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tAdefolahan Guerreiro\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tAdefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.<\/p>\n<p>He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/2025\/06\/super-eagles-boniface-leverkusen.html\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Adefolahan Guerreiro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer Former Super Eagles and Anderlecht defender, Mobi Patrick Oparaku, has urged Nigerians to be more patient in their treatment of Bayer 04 Leverkusen striker, Victor Okoh Boniface, Soccernet.ng reports. The 24-year-old enjoyed a brilliant debut season with Die Werkself, winning the DFB Pokal and the Bundesliga titles, and earning himself a call-up to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":854855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3577,129287,2005],"tags":[7956,129286],"class_list":{"0":"post-854854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eagles","8":"category-ex-super","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-eagles","11":"tag-ex-super"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854854","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=854854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}