Sylvester Ayere, First team assistant coach at Dubai second division side Fleetwood United, has blamed Super Eagles coach Finidi George for benching Victor Boniface against South Africa and Benin in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Recall that Nigeria were held to a 1-1 draw against South Africa at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo before losing 2-1 to Benin on Monday.
Reacting to the results, Ayere, in a chat with News Central TV, stated that the former Enyimba coach should have started the Bayer Leverkusen star against South Africa and Benin.
He stated that Boniface would have added more bit in the Eagles’ attack and also create a good linkup play with the midfielders.
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“In a game as crucial as the World Cup (qualifier), you don’t bench your key players,” Ayere added.
“What happened to Boniface? You know that this is somebody who can hold on to the ball, is skilled on the ball, and can create chances. He can bring a good linkup play with your midfielders because he loves to come in and collect the ball.”
He, however, said that Nigeria can still pick up the 2026 World Cup ticket if the team can win all six of their remaining six games.
“I don’t want to compare the Super Eagles at the AFCON and the current Super Eagles,” coach Ayere noted.
“But when you look at the Super Eagles in the AFCON, in their first game, they were trying to play beautiful football with ball possession.
“But it didn’t work in the first game. What happened? The coach became more strategic and put up a more defensive structure, which gave Nigeria a defensive identity.
“This current Super Eagles does not have a defensive identity.
“We (Nigeria) were very lucky against South Africa because they were just terrible. They had so many chances to score. You could see how many times the defenders went behind the ball to defend. It shows that we don’t have a defensive balance.
“The question is, can we still qualify? Obviously yes. We have six games to go. If we can win all of our games, we will definitely qualify.
But can we win all our games the way we are playing now? It is a capital NO.”
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