The coach of the Nigerian national football team, Eric Chelle, was very angry after Sunday’s defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo and accused a member of the Congolese team of practicing voodoo to guarantee a place in the play-offs for the 2026 World Cup.
“During the penalties, the guy from Congo did voodoo, all the time, all the time, all the time, that’s why I was irritated with him,” said the coach at the end of the match won by the Congolese on penalties.
“He did it like that with water or I don’t know what”, explained the trainer while waving his hand in the air.
After the fourth Congolese goal, the winning one, Chelle went to the opponent’s bench, visibly furious with a member of the Congolese technical team, according to the images broadcast on television.
This defeat ended the chances of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, of participating in next year’s World Cup, meaning that the Super Eagles, already absent in the previous edition in Qatar, lost two consecutive World Cups for the first time since Nigeria debuted in a World Cup in 1994.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has not participated in a World Cup since 1974, must in turn compete in an international play-off to secure its place.
The repechage will be played in March, in Mexico, one of the World Cup host countries along with the United States and Canada.
Eric Chelle, previously coach of Mali (2022-2024), which he led to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, became coach of the Nigerian national team earlier this year with the aim of taking the team to the World Cup.
