FORMER Super Eagles and Al-Ittihad defender, Chikelue Iloenyosi, has questioned the character and passion of Nigeria’s senior men’s national football team, insisting that hiring Portuguese coach will not save the team.
Iloenyosi made the statement in an interview with Brila.net following the Eagles’ recent disappointing performance during the last phase of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
While the three-time African champions had already sealed qualification to the AFCON 2025 tournament in Morocco and were not under pressure to perform, they remained under obligation to win their matches and finish the qualifiers strong.
However, Austin Eguavoen’s men put up an underwhelming performance and failed to win either of their two matches and only managed to pick a point from a possible six.
Nigeria played a 1-1 draw with the Benin Republic at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan last Thursday before a shock 2-1 defeat to Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Monday, ending their perfect home record in the qualifier.
Before their defeat to the Amavubi in Uyo on Monday, Eguavoen’s men had notched consecutive home victories against Benin (3-0) and Libya (1-0) without conceding and their poor display against the East Africans left fans fuming with anger.
Some football enthusiasts have called on the Nigeria Football Federation to appoint a foreign coach as the Eagles prepare for their must-win games when the World Cup qualifiers resume.
Speaking with Brila.net, Iloenyosi exonerated Eguavoen of any wrongdoing but emphasised that the players should be blamed for the defeat.
“Eguavoen has never been part of the problem. Even if you bring in someone like Mourinho to coach Nigeria, the team still lacks character.
“The pattern we played (against Rwanda), the boys didn’t position themselves well, no passion and character in the national team.
“Losing the game is not Eguavoen’s fault. Even if you bring in another coach, they will still lose that game,” the former Asteras Tripoli man said.
The win means Rwanda claimed their first-ever win against Nigeria and will ride on the belief that they can repeat that feat when both sides meet again during the March International break as they look to seal qualification to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Rwanda are currently top of the qualification group with seven points while Nigeria have just three points from four games.