- Safiu Kehinde
Super Eagles coach, Eric Chelle, has accused one of the coaching staff of the Democratic Republic of Congo of invoking voodoo all through the penalty shootout during the African qualification play-off final for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
NPO Reported that the Leopard on Sunday night shattered the Nigerian national team’s dream of qualifying for the World Cup as they knocked out the Chelle-led side in 4-3 victory via spot kicks.
With the game having ended 1-1 in the regular 90 minutes game time and the 30 minutes extra time, Nigeria’s fate was to be decided by the tense penalty shootout.
Calvin Bassey who stepped up for the first kick rocketed the ball far off the goalmouth to dent the Super Eagles qualification hope.
Moses Simon also followed suit as the Congolese goalkeeper parried his shot.
However, two brilliant saves for Nigerian goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabili, kept the Super Eagles hope alive as both teams with tied to 3-3.
The shootout would advance to the sudden death stage where the first taker of the crucial round, Semi Ajayi, failed to convert his shot.
The DR Congolese captain then stepped up to send Nwabali the wrong way and send the Central African country to the next round of the world cup qualification play-off.
Meanwhile, following the shootout, a frustrated Chelle was reportedly spotted challenging one of the DR Congo’s coaching staff.
Speaking about the incident to journalists after the incident, the Super Eagles Coach alleged that the staff was invoking a voodoo all through the penalty shootout which got him upset after the game.
“During all the penalty session, the guy of Congo did some voodoo. Every time, everytime, everytime. This is why I was a little nervous after him.” He said.
Asked about what he saw, the coach described the object as some sort of a watery substance which the DR Congo staff, as demonstrated by Chelle, repeatedly swerved above his head all through the penalty shootout.
“Something like that. I don’t know if it is water.” He said.