It was the famous fabulist of the XVIIth century, Jean de La Fontaine who wrote about taking chestnuts out of a fire. Meaning to save one or thing from impending failure, destruction or failure. That is what exactly the Super Eagles are faced with in their quest to qualify for their seventh World Cup since their first appearance in 1994.

Before 1994, Nigeria’s senior national teams had always lost in their quest to qualify for the World Cup. The nearest they got was in 1977 when they needed a home win against Tunisia to qualify but an own goal through Godwin Odiye’s back header ruined it. From 1960 when the national team first participated in the CAF World Cup qualifiers for the 1962 edition in Chile, only six teams participated, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.

However, only four of them competed for a partial slot as Egypt, then know as the United Arab Republic and Sudan withdrew. Morocco was paired with Tunisia while Nigeria and Ghana battled each other. Morocco eliminated Tunisia while Ghana stopped Nigeria. They defeated Nigeria 4-1 in the first leg in Accra and the return leg in Lagos ended 2-2. Ghana lost to Morocco.

Africa couldn’t get a slot as Morocco lost the interconfederation playoffs to Spain. For the 1966 qualifiers, Nigeria was among the 15 African countries that entered for the competition. However, they didn’t kick a ball as all of them withdrew in protest after FIFA declined to allocate a direct qualifying place for an African team. Like in the 1962 qualifiers when they had to go through a playoff route with a team from UEFA, they were asked to play a team in Asia-Oceania.

In 1969 during the 1970 World Cup qualifiers, after dumping Ghana, Morocco became the barrier as they picked the lone ticket and qualified ahead of Nigeria as CAF didn’t go through the playoffs route again. For the 1974 edition, Ghana stopped Nigeria again after 0-2 in Lagos and 0-0 in Accra. It was an own goal by Godwin Odiye at the National Stadium in Lagos in 1977 that denied Nigeria the ticket to the 1978 World Cup.

By 1982, FIFA had awarded Africa two slots but Nigeria didn’t still qualify, the same with 1986 and 1990. The crop of Super Eagles who won the AFCON in Tunisia in 1994 also made history by qualifying the country for her first World Cup held in the United States that same year without much stress. Since that first appearance, the Super Eagles have missed only two editions, 2006 in Germany which they lost to Angola through head to head rule and the last one in Qatar which they also lost, again on home soil to perennial rivals Ghana on aggregate after 0-0 in Accra and 1-1 in Abuja.

Since 1994, this is the first time that the Super Eagles have boxed themselves into a precarious corner, making Nigerians ask if they could pick the chestnut out of the fire they have put themselves by their lackadaisical approach to matches. Unlike the fabled monkey seeking the help of the cat with its paws to pick the chestnut out of the fiery fire, the Super Eagles would have no outside help but need their own determination and dexterity to do the unthinkable, win all six remaining matches, without which they would just kiss the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico goodbye.

The task before whoever is appointed to lead the team in this journey is an onerous one. Whether it is Austin Eguavoen, on interim or substantive basis, or a foreign coach, the chances are very slim if the performances of the current set of Super Eagles are anything to go by. In the last 12 months, the team have not won six straight matches, so how are they going to do it now with so much anxiety?

From January to November this year, they have played a total of 18 games, three being friendly matches, and they won only nine. One of the wins was a quarterfinals penalty shootout against South Africa at the AFCON in Abidjan and the other was a 2025 AFCON qualifier awarded to them against Libya. So you can safely say they won only seven games in regulation time, which gives them a 39 percent chance of repeating same in the six remaining World Cup matches starting March 17, 2025 with the Kigali tie against the same Rwanda that snatched a rare victory against them at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo last month.

After the match in Kigali, they will play two home matches against Zimbabwe on March 24 and Rwanda on September 1. On September 8, they will be in Johannesburg to battle Bafana Bafana whose coach, Hugo Broos is almost swearing that it will be over his dead body that Nigeria will qualify ahead of South Africa. Their last home game on October 13, will be against Gernot Rohr’s Cheetahs who inflicted the first loss on them in the qualifiers in Abidjan last June.

If the Super Eagles lose any of the four matches before the last away game in Lesotho on October 6, the game against Benin Republic will be a mere formality. The only chance left for qualification would be through a play-offs route if they emerge among the four best runners-up. That is another long route because if they emerge tops of that, they will just fly CAF’s flag in an inter-confederation play-offs. They must do the unthinkable, win six straight matches in the New Year. For their fans, the anxiety is high because it is really a long bridge to navigate.