Super Eagles coach, Eric Chelle, has accused a DR Congo team official of using voodoo to ensure his team won the World Cup play-off on Saturday.


Nigeria’s dreams of returning to the FIFA World Cup ended in Rabat, Morocco, where the Super Eagles were outclassed and beaten by DR Congo in the African playoff final.

The Super Eagles were widely tipped to overcome the Congolese after their near-perfect display against Gabon, who they beat 4-1 in the semifinals.

But the East Africans, who defeated Cameroon in the semifinal, showed that football is won by determination and firm application and not pedigree, with the way they went about clipping the Eagles’ wings.

Yet, the story would have been different had the Nigerians made good use of the chances they had early in the game, which was decided after 120 minutes.

Frank Onyeka’s deflected shot after three minutes set the Super Eagles flying, giving Nigerians the impression that their team was on its way to a good evening in Rabat. The scores would have become 2-0 a few minutes later, but Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman contrived to block their paths when Samuel Chukwueze sent in a tantalising cross into the Congolese box.

Shortly after, the Congolese were on level terms when Meschack Elia capitalised on a miscued pass by Alex Iwobi to beat Stanley Nwabali for the equaliser.

Thereafter, the Red Devils took over proceedings, overwhelming the Super Eagles with their crisp passes and non-stop running in search of the winner.

Twice, they had the ball in Nigeria’s net, but those strikes were disallowed for infringements. The regular period petered out with no more goals, and the game had to enter into two added halves as the search for Africa’s representative in the inter-continental playoffs continued.

Speaking to the press after losing the penalty shootout, Chelle said, "During the penalty session, the DR Congo guy did voodoo every time. This is why I was a little nervous after him."

When asked to state what he saw, Chelle said it looked like water, adding that the guy was waving it.