History never forgets. It pays a lot to tell the truth no matter whose ox is gored. I’ve read with pain how facts have been twisted on the issue of Algeria getting the three points back from Nigeria during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Super Eagles fielded Shehu Abdullahi in the last game in Algeria when he was ineligible due to two yellow cards he received before that game in Constantine, which ended 1-1, not forgetting John Ogu’s pile drive for the first goal. Indeed, the Algerians played the game under protest. Jealously made them keep the facts to themselves, having seen Abdullahi dressed to play the match. He, interestingly played for 82 minutes before he was substituted. So, there was no need to present the protest letter out of time like Lesotho did before they eventually withdrew it, depending on the veracity of this withdrawal claim. In the ensuing wahala, it was discovered that FIFA sent our football federation a notice about Abdullahi’s ineligibility for the Algeria game. But in our usual style of dismissing issues, it slipped our memory to implement the FIFA notice. Perhaps, if we needed those points as we do now, we would have pulled our ears to do the right thing – drop Abdullahi from the game entirely. Besides, nobody got punished for the administrative slip simply because it didn’t cause Nigeria’s ouster from the 2018 World Cup held in Russia. Time was when the balls FIFA sent to affiliate soccer federations with Nigeria’s consignments stuck in the Nigerian port. Guess what, Nigeria had to use those balls owned by South Africa in a World Cup qualifier against Bafana Bafana. No prize for guessing correctly that the South Africans beat the Super Eagles in Uyo with their FFA-donated balls. Heads didn’t roll for this slip. It is what it is with the game’s administration in Nigeria. The critical aspect of the reminder notices is that it isn’t only common to FIFA. Last Friday, UEFA confirmed the eligibility of four key Real Madrid players for the Tuesday night Champions League game against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, which the Gunners won resoundingly 3-0. Arsenal served Real Madrid players enough plates of rice on Tuesday night to shock the world. Is this going to be Arsenal’s year to lift the UEFA Champions League diadem? We pray O Lord, Amen. A team that hasn’t been able to win a game from four home fixtures, has no business whatsoever participating during the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico. No chance. Our players come here to prosecute our matches unable to reproduce their European clubs’ form. Yet, they return to Europe three or four days later to rule their world during matches scoring goals with aplomb. Did you say why? Of course, poor coaching at our national team level. Yet, when we are in the process of recruiting a competent coach for the Super Eagles, critics bring out their calculators to find out the naira equivalent of what these coaches are asking for. Ironically, 90 per cent of these critics have their kids in some of the best schools in the world and here in Nigeria. My problem with those insisting on us having a Nigerian coaching bench is that they forget the huge financial returns on this kind of investment if the team does well in such a major soccer competition as the senior World Cup. Critics of the issue of employing a truly top-notch European manager are suffering from fermented hypocrisy. I’m not a prophet of doom. I enjoy speaking the truth to our sports administrators who think that the world must wait for Nigeria to wake up from her slumber. No way. Sports is dynamic with defining moments meant for discerning minds to evaluate and make the right decisions. Sports are no longer essentially for recreation. It is now business by people who think outside the box not snoring folks like ours. The pain of this contemptuous scenario resulting from our refusal to plan for the future is that it keeps repeating itself in embarrassing proportions. Yet, we expect different results. Read Also: Truth or Dare: The dangerous s3x game in Nollywood We appear not to know that we are nearer the exit door than to qualify to participate in the 2026 World Cup. One would have thought that our football federation’s chieftains would have asked Eric Chelle to remain in Nigeria to start mini camps for home-based he has spotted and those he would spot later to see if he can find young, talented defenders instead of insulting our sensibilities by flaunting names of kids in Europe with Nigerian parents to woo them to play for Nigeria. Sad. We have allowed Chelle to return home with the usual instructions to return to Nigeria with two weeks left to the friendly games in June. Are we paying him to stay at home doing nothing? What happened to the accommodation in Abuja? Is it meant for termites, reptiles e.t.c, and not human beings? Is it that Chelle doesn’t have an office or work schedule to effectively keep him busy? Is it that the NFF chiefs aren’t abreast with the new technology that makes it easy for Chelle to do things he has been allowed to go home for? Nigeria, we hail thee. ”The budget for 2026 will reach new commercial heights in connection with the FIFA World Cup and will assist FIFA in its mission to provide Member Associations with unprecedented financial support,” according to the world soccer governing body’s Mundial document. What this message presupposes is that all the participating countries at the 2026 World Cup are in for a bountiful harvest. It is also obvious that more money would be paid to the qualifiers as qualification bonuses. At the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the qualification bonus was $12 million each, an increment on previous qualification bonuses of $8 million. The 2026 edition would be mouth-boggling, considering the fact the competition would be co-hosted by three nations: the United States, Mexico, and Canada. One wonders why these novel innovations don’t motivate our football federation bosses to prosecute this next edition flawlessly. With six World Cup appearances in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014, and 2018, Nigeria may just be the only nation with no record of how much it cost her to prosecute each of the six outings. It is the reason the federation can’t plan for anything. Sadly so. Qualifying for the Mundial since Nigeria recorded her debut appearance in 1994 in the United States has been a battle with Clemens Westerhoff’s relationship with the departed Vice President Augustus Aikhomu being the saving grace. Westerhof had unlimited access to the President and was given whatever he needed to sustain his rebuilding processes. Super Eagles, until Westerhof came, had become super chickens with jesters having a small comedy where a little child preferred staying with the Super Eagles than his mother for the simple fact that they don’t beat anyone. Nigeria is in very big trouble. The country must wake up to the reality that our national flag won’t be hoisted among the comity of nations at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico. I wish the Super Eagles everything that they wish themselves in this World Cup campaign. Good luck Nigeria!