2026 WCQ: Erico stripped naked, cursed Super Eagles – Oliseh

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Sunday Oliseh, has said former coach Joe Erico stripped naked and cursed the team.

According to Oliseh, that might be what is working against the Nigerian national team, as they struggle to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

The 51-year-old captained the Eagles at the 2002 African Cup of Nations and also helped the team come from behind to qualify for the World Cup in the same year.

However, Oliseh was not included in the squad for the tournament in South Korea/Japan of the same year, as he was omitted for disciplinary reasons.

Jay-Jay Okocha was handed the skipper’s armband and Oliseh announced his retirement from the team.

Festus Onigbinde was also put in charge of the Nigerian team, although the late Shuaibu Amodu, Joe Erico and Stephen Keshi were the core trio of the coaching team that helped Nigeria qualify after they were five points behind Liberia in the qualification process.

The Eagles were eliminated in the group stage, earning a point without scoring a goal.

Oliseh has now claimed Erico laid out a curse on the team after the incident.

“Coach Erico made it very clear before his death that what they did to us in 2002, he sat down in his room naked and he cursed Nigeria,” Oliseh on the Home Turf podcast.

“He’s a great guy, great human being, lovely guy. He came, took over the team. Erico, Keshi and Shuaibu Amodu.

“Keshi was still finding his feet as a coach, and he invested so much. He always called me into his room and made me aware of his plans to make sure Nigeria qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

“We were five points behind Liberia in the qualifiers, just like what’s happening currently. Everyone had written us off, but when they took over, we became united.

“Keshi phoned me from the United States while I organised the players, and gradually, we built ourselves.”