Yakubu Aiyegbeni is a former Super Eagles striker
Former Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni has criticised Nigeria’s coach, Eric Chelle, for attributing the team’s penalty shootout defeat to Congo to “voodoo.”
Nigeria lost 4–3 on penalties to Congo in the final of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Africa playoffs in Morocco, ending the country’s hopes of securing a place at next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The defeat means Nigeria have now failed to qualify for the World Cup for the second consecutive time.
Speaking after the game, Chelle had claimed that Congo’s coach sprinkled water on the pitch before each missed Nigerian penalty, suggesting it influenced the outcome.
“During all the penalty sessions, the guy from Congo did some voodoo,” he said.
“Every time, so this is why I was a little nervous after him.”
Reacting, in an interview with Sportscasting, Aiyegbeni described Chelle’s remarks as embarrassing, stating that it was unacceptable for a national team coach to offer such an explanation.
The former Everton forward added that Chelle should have simply congratulated the Congolese team and accepted the defeat gracefully.
His words: It was the first time I heard a Nigeria coach talking about Voodoo. If it was voodoo, I think an African country would have won the World Cup a long time ago. Get to the final and win it. It’s a shame for him to say that and say the coach is pouring water, voodoo.
“He just needed to congratulate the team and say well done for winning, rather than bringing shame to Nigeria. He is a shame to Nigeria, a coach coming out when you just lost a final, then he says it’s because of voodoo, it’s not really a nice way for a coach to comment. Just say we did our best and that they were just unlucky.
“We lost on penalties and he tried to fight someone there, they tried to pull him back, it is not a good look for him and for us, Nigeria too. He better learn from that, coming to the press conference and saying it is Voodoo, you lost the game.”
Aiyegbeni added that the team had enough chances to win the match and must take responsibility for their poor finishing and missed penalties.
“We had chances to win it but we lost it. They all had chances, they all missed chances. But when it comes to penalties, then it is a win-win situation. If you miss it, then they score, then it is gone, which they did. And for us, our penalties were quite poor but it is normally the pressure, when you play for Nigeria, it’s a massive pressure, so the pressure was too much for the players to deal with and it happened,” he said.
He urged the team to move on and focus on the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), noting that the competition begins in a few weeks.
“But we have to focus now on the AFCON, another 25 or 24 days and they are back again. But the coach, it’s a shame for him to come out and say it is voodoo, they’re pouring water, he should just let go.”
