By Akinwale Kasali
The dream of Nigeria’s Super Eagles playing at the 2026 FIFA World has been dashed by the Leopards of Democratic Republic of Congo in the final of the CAF World Cup Playoffs.
After a 120-minute 1-1 draw of pulsating football action, the game resulted to a penalty shootout during which the Super Eagles lost three spot kicks to give the Coach Sébastien Desabre led DR Congo a 4-3 victory.
With this result, the Super Eagles has failed to appear in two consecutive World Cup tournament. The Nigerian flag will not be hoisted at 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by the trio of United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
The Nigerian side started the game brightly with a strike from Frank Onyeka that was deflected into the DR Congo net.
The Nigerian side pushed forward to add to the tally but they failed to convert their chances to any meaningful end.
The Congolese got back into the game following a strike from Elia Meshack, after a poor defending by Wilfred Ndidi.
The Super Eagles were dealt a big blow at half time as their forward, Victor Osimhen was replaced after an injury.
The exit of Osimhen saw the DR Congo team grow into the game and dictated the game for the entire second half and the entire 30 minutes of extra time.
During the penalty shootout, Calvin Bassey, Moses Simon and Oluwasemilogo Ajayi lost their spot kicks.
Though, Super Eagles Goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, saved two spot kicks, it was not enough to save his team the DR Congo team which won 4-3 on penalties.
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