The die is cast, by Patrick Omorodion

The Roman General, Julius Caesar made this statement popular many centuries ago. In gambling, it’s a game of throwing a dice, a game of hazard or chance. That is the crossroad the Super Eagles have reached in their attempt to qualify for the 2026 World Cup scheduled to hold in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Like the Jamaican reggae crooner, Jimmy Cliff sang, it is a hard way to travel. That was because the NFF didn’t plan well, prosecuting the qualifiers like a trial and error experiment with four different coaches.

Or was it the players themselves that didn’t take their matches seriously or didn’t have the lethal finisher in front of goal as it has turned out to be? This is especially after Finidi George confessed that the absence of Victor Osimhen affected his performance with the team.

Osimhen’s absence cost the Super Eagles goals as they had to struggle against teams like Lesotho, Rwanda and Zimbabwe even on home soil in Uyo.

Towards the end of the qualifiers, the team were languishing in fourth place and Nigerians, this writer inclusive, had lost hope that Nigeria could even place second in the group, how much more being among the best four losers to qualify for the playoffs.

Miracles do happen but the miracle of being among the playoffs teams was only possible because the Super Eagles were reinvigorated with the return of Osimhen.

The hat-trick effort in the last qualifier against Benin Republic was the clincher as it boosted the players morale to fight till the end as they routed Gernot Rohr’s team 4-0.

That performance is why this week the Super Eagles are playing Gabon in the first leg of the playoffs, which will qualify them for the final hurdle to picking Africa’s ticket for the Intercontinental playoff next March.

So once again there is a frenzy among football fans. Some fans believe that the Super Eagles could overcome Gabon and then either Cameroon or DR Congo in the final.

Their renewed hope is as a result of the current form of the Galatasaray goal poacher who now leads the scorers chart in the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League with six goals.

They are all praying that Osimhen doesn’t crop up any injury before the all important encounters in Morocco but especially, that he re-enacts his lethal form against Benin Republic and Ajax Amsterdam last Wednesday.

One thing however, is while Nigerians are praying for the Super Eagles and Osimhen, the coach Eric Chelle should have a plan B to avoid what happened to the team in the absence of the Edo-born striker.

If Osimhen alone contributed six of the 15 goals the Super Eagles recorded in only five of the 10 qualifying matches he played, it means without him, the team would struggle to score.

This is very dangerous as a tactical coach could mark him out of the game and render the Super Eagles a blunt machete.

That is exactly what the coach of Gabon, Thierry Mouyouma is contemplating when his wards, led by Aubemayang, file out against Chelle’s squad on Thursday.

Mouyouma is weary of Osimhen and has said they are plotting a strategy to stop him as he is unpredictable.

Chelle should also be strategizing on how to handle the Gabonese side who have different options of strikers outside Aubameyang, especially by cutting off supplies from the midfield to them.

Defensively, both sides are equally matched. While the Super Eagles conceded eight goals in 10 matches, the Gabonese conceded one more.

They were better offensively as they scored 22 goals to Super Eagles’ 15. But the setting this time would be different. And Coach Mouyouma is already worried that the Super Eagles are unpredictable.

Outside the pitch, unlike during the qualifying matches when the NFF failed to play the politics involved in the game by not protesting the approval of South Africa as the home ground for Lesotho and Zimbabwe, they are now proactive.

During the week, it was gathered that the NFF had protested the appointment of South African and Benin Republic officials for the Nigeria-Gabon match. ‎Officials from two countries that contested with Nigeria in the same group.

Even if at the end the officials are not changed, they know eyes would be on them and therefore would try and be professional enough to allay the fear of bias by Nigerians.

The fears may be genuine following the utterance of South Africa’s sports minister, Gayton McKenzie about Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

He was quoted as saying that “I want to make it very clear that I wish for them not to qualify [for the 2026 FIFA – World Cup].”

“I knew what they did behind the scenes for us not to get there (qualify for the World Cup). I want them to lose;  they will not go to the World Cup, and another African country must go,” he added.

His boast could be taken lightly but for FIFA to go ahead and appoint officials from his country has gotten the NFF worried and therefore FIFA should focus their attention in the Africa playoffs.

Nigerians are waiting for Thursday for the play-offs with bated breath to see how the reinvigorated Super Eagles would throw the dice in this game of chance against Gabon and after, Cameroon or DR Congo.

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