Experienced Super Eagles forward, Moses Simon, has fingered Nigeria’s lack of goals and poor defending as factors that have played a part in Nigeria’s disappointing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign so far, Footynaija.com reports.
The Super Eagles currently sit in fourth place out of the six teams in Group C. Their seven-point tally from a possible eighteen has left much to be desired and they now find themselves in a desperate race against time to secure a World Cup ticket.
Nigeria’s goal-scoring and defensive record in the ongoing qualifying series has been nothing to write home about. The Super Eagles have scored more than once in only one of the six games they have played so far.
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Conversely, they have managed to prevent only one of their last six opponents (Rwanda) in the World Cup qualifying series from scoring a goal and Simon believes these two areas of concern must be addressed ahead of the upcoming games.
What Moses Simon said
“We need to score more goals because the Super Eagles of those days and the Super Eagles of now, I think those days before twenty minutes, the game is over,” Simon said to ESPN.
“And in terms of defending, they defended very well. Now, we are trying to adapt because for me, we just need to score goals for us to avoid all these.
“This is something that needs to change because you can see it affected even the CHAN team. They didn’t score a lot of goals and when the opponent have their chances, they finish it quickly.
“This is something we need to change generally because sometimes when you say goals, people think it’s just strikers. Wingers need to score goals.
“The last AFCON, I think Ekong had three goals and he’s a defender. A defender can score, a midfielder can score, even a striker can score. We just need to do it collectively. Score goals and defend well and all of us have to do it together as a team.”
Nigeria certainly has the attacking and defensive talent to play much better on both ends of the pitch. With the Super Eagles now at a “now or never” stage, it’s up to these players to bring their A game in the remaining four matches of the qualifying series.
