Super Eagles coach Finidi George has implored Nigerians to let him do his job following the Super Eagles’ sad 1-1 draw with South Africa in their 2026 World Cup qualifier on Friday.
The draw was a hard start for George as Super Eagles manager.
In a controversial move, George left Bayer Leverkusen’s prolific scorer, Victor Boniface, who scored 30 goals last season, as an unused substitute.
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru scored Nigeria’s equaliser after the team fell behind to South Africa’s Bafana Bafana.
Responding to questions during a post-match conference on why he left Boniface out of the starting line-up, Finidi explained, “He was supposed to come in, but when we heard [Semi] Ajayi complain that he had a knock, he couldn’t continue. So we had to reverse that.”
The former Enyimba coach and NPFL winner vowed that the 23-year-old would get his chance in the next game against Benin Republic, before urging the media to let them do their job.
“For me, it is what you can give me on the field; everyone wants this or that player to play, but at the end of the day, if the player is not performing, you guys will still be shouting, ‘Take him off’,” he added.
“So, let us do our job. We know who is good to go; we have another game, so definitely we’ll see how we can play these guys,” Finidi concluded.
Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has only three points out of a possible nine in their first three qualifiers for the 2026 event.
