Super Eagles stars Victor Osimhen, Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze, and Alex Iwobi all impressed in their final club appearances before departing for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Osimhen scored as Galatasaray thrashed Antalyaspor 4-1 on Saturday, sending a warning to Nigeria’s AFCON opponents ahead of the tournament in Morocco.

The league leaders came out firing from the opening whistle, with Leroy Sane opening the scoring in the seventh minute before Roland Sallai doubled the advantage four minutes later.

Osimhen delivered the moment everyone had been waiting for in the 56th minute. Receiving Yunus Akgün’s exquisite pass on the left wing, the Nigerian striker drove purposefully into the box before unleashing a thunderous shot from an impossibly tight angle to make it 3-0.

Antalyaspor managed a consolation goal late on, but Mauro Icardi came off the bench to wrap up the win with a fourth.

With this result, Galatasaray increased their points to 39 and maintained their leadership position.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Fulham trio delivered impressive performances as they inflicted a seventh straight Premier League defeat on Burnley.

Harry Wilson set up two Fulham goals before scoring their third in the entertaining clash.

The visitors led when Wilson’s low corner inexplicably beat Clarets full-back Quilindschy Hartman, allowing Emile Smith Rowe to divert in from three yards.

Burnley responded well through Lesley Ugochukwu’s strike, but Fulham were gifted a second just after the half-hour mark as Calvin Bassey was allowed to head home uncontested after a fine control and cross from Wilson.

Wilson then made it 3-1 with a classy guided shot into the far corner after being picked out by Nigerian winger Chukwueze.

Oliver Sonne scored a late consolation for Burnley, but it was too little too late.

Bassey and Chukwueze both played the full 90 minutes, while Iwobi came off in the 79th minute for Sasa Lukic.

The Super Eagles stars will now report to Nigeria’s AFCON training camp in Cairo, Egypt, which opens on Monday, December 15.

A friendly against hosts Egypt follows on Tuesday, before the Super Eagles fly out to Fez, Morocco, where all their Group C matches will be staged.

Nigeria have been drawn alongside Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania, with their opening fixture scheduled for December 23 against Tanzania.

Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw has named three injured players Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Assane Diao in his final 28-man squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Diao suffered a thigh injury for Como last weekend, Diarra has not played since undergoing groin surgery in September for Sunderland, while Sarr has missed Crystal Palace’s last three matches after suffering ankle ligament damage against Manchester United.

Senegal’s core remains intact, featuring established stars across Europe and the Gulf.

Captain Kalidou Koulibaly, attacking icon Sadio Mané, and midfield anchor Idrissa Gana Gueye all make the squad, while Pape Matar Sarr, one of Africa’s most exciting young midfielders, will play a central role after a strong season with Tottenham.

Up front, Thiaw has named a dynamic and varied attack.

Boulaye Dia, Habib Diallo, Nicolas Jackson, Iliman Ndiaye, and Cherif Ndiaye provide depth and versatility, giving Senegal one of the most potent forward lines in the competition.

In defence, Moussa Niakhaté, Ismail Jakobs, Antoine Mendy, Abdoulaye Seck, and rising prospect Mamadou Sarr join Kalidou Koulibaly in forming a unit built on physical presence and athleticism.

The goalkeeping department includes experienced Edouard Mendy, in-form Le Havre keeper Mory Diaw, and Nice’s Yehvann Diouf.

The Terangha Lions will begin their campaign on 23 December against Botswana before facing Benin and DR Congo in Group D.

When the roll call of 48 national football teams that will participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals taking place in the United States of America (USA) and co-hosts – Canada and Mexico, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will be among the absentees. This is a very heart- breaking development for the team’s millions of followers and fans within the country and in other parts of the world.

It is even more painful considering the fact that the Nigerian national team will be missing the prestigious World Cup for the second time in eight years.

The Eagles couldn’t fly to Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup finals when they failed to beat the Black Stars of Ghana in their final qualifying match against Ghana in Abuja.

The game which ended 1-1 was not enough to see the Eagles to the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Sadly the NFF failed to learn from the previous mistake as the sole organ in charge of football administration in the country, they failed to learn from planning early enough for major championships. In their group matches for the 2026 World Cup, they had less rated teams like Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Benin Republic and South Africa. Many analysts had thought that the Eagles would not have much problem qualifying from the group automatically as the leaders but that was not to be. They laboured to make it to a play off stage which was held in Morocco.

It was in the North African country that the Nigerian footballers cried out at a press conference that the NFF had not paid them their match bonuses and allowances for almost four years. The Eagles even boycotted some of their training in Morocco as a result.

This development is a national embarrassment. The low spirited Eagles went on to lose their final play-off to DR Congo on penalties. This caused Nigeria another opportunity to make it to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.

Many Nigerians including a former captain of the National team Mikel Obi have called for the sack of the present NFF for failing the nation. This medium not only agrees with Obi, they should be probed. Nigeria’s football fans are also calling on President Bola Tinubu to show more than passive interest in the National embarrassment and pain caused this nation by an incompetent football administrators.

With the Super Eagles missing out on the 2026 World Cup the country’s reputation as a power in world football continues to diminish. While less rated countries like Cape Verde, Algeria and Tunisia are heading for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Super Eagles will be resting at home for the second time in eight years.

 Sadly again, a generation of great players like Victor Osimhen, 2023 African footballer of the year award winner and his successor Ademola Lookman, will painfully miss out at the world’s biggest football event.

Of course, Nigeria will miss millions of dollars payments from FIFA for not participating in the earth-shaking competition.The team will equally lose out from endorsements from companies and private individuals. The players in particular have missed a great opportunity of transfer to bigger clubs with bigger salaries.

The USA provided a great avenue for the Super Eagles where they made their first appearance at a FIFA World Cup finals in 1994. The Eagles defeated Bulgaria 3-1, went on to beat Greece 2-0 but lost to Argentina 2-1. The team proceeded to the second round where they lost to Italy 2-1 via a dying minute goal by Roberto Bazio. The team had golden generation of players like Rashidi Yekini, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amunike, goalkeeper Peter Rufai, Samson Siasia, Uche Okechukwu, Finidi George among others. Since then, Nigeria had participated in France 1998 World Cup, Korea/Japan 2002, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018

With more than six million tickets available for the tournament, and nearly two million already sold, the FIFA World Cup 2026 will bring together supporters from every corner of the globe for an unforgettable celebration of football across North America.

DAILY ASSET is of the view that to reposition the Super Eagles for the next FIFA World Cup, Nigeria should consider the issue of developing grassroots football and invest in youth development programs; infrastructure and coaching to identify and nurture talented young players.

The NFF should also improve its coaching and technical staff by hiring experienced coaches with international expertise to develop a strong team strategy and player development programs.

Additionally, NFF must of necessity embark on scouting and talent identification by Identifying and recruiting top players, both locally and abroad, to strengthen the team. In essence, every step must be taken to strengthen and improve our local league.

And most importantly, entrenching transparency and accountability to avoid any embarrassment of players in camp protesting like the case that was recently witnessed in Morocco.