Nigeria coach Finidi George takes a jab at fans and media after Super Eagles and Bafana Bafana draw – ‘Everyone is a coach’

In the absence of the injured Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, many fans anticipated Bayer Leverkusen forward Victor Boniface – who had 21 goals and 10 assists across all competitions, to start in the 2026 World Cup qualifier against South Africa.

However, coach Finidi George opted to start Paul Onuachu; when the match was nearing the latter stages calls were made from the stands by the supporters, asking the technical bench to introduce the 23-year-old, but their wish didn’t see the light of the day as the teams played to a one-all draw.

“We change a player when we know how to change them; we know that everybody is a coach [on Friday night],” George said in a presser.

“It’s true everybody is a coach, people can see when they [in the stands], when you sit there you can see anything, but we are focussed on this job.

“[Onuachu] stayed a little bit longer, it’s our own decision. Allow us to do our jobs. We wanted to introduce Boniface and [Terem] Moffi, but Semi [Ajayi] had a knock and we had to take him off and introduce Moffi and [Raphael] Onyedika,” he added.

“The fans and media would shout for different players, if they don’t perform well, the shout will be, ‘take him off’. Allow us to do our jobs.”

The draw against Bafana Bafana in Uyo was the third consecutive time the Super Eagles have shared the spoils in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

It leaves the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finalists fifth on the table with just three points, one more than bottom-placed Zimbabwe.

Lesotho, surprisingly, lead the pool with five points followed by Rwanda who have four points the same as Benin and South Africa respectively.

The Friday match in Uyo was George’s first competitive assignment for George who took over from Jose Peseiro.

The Nigeria legend has no alternative but to try to collect maximum points in their next game against Benin.