{"id":14174,"date":"2025-11-17T11:33:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T11:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/nigeria-coach-claims-he-received-voodoo-from-congolese-staff-during-world-cup-qualifying-penalty-shootout-defeat\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T11:33:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T11:33:54","slug":"nigeria-coach-claims-he-received-voodoo-from-congolese-staff-during-world-cup-qualifying-penalty-shootout-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/nigeria-coach-claims-he-received-voodoo-from-congolese-staff-during-world-cup-qualifying-penalty-shootout-defeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria coach claims he received &#8216;voodoo&#8217; from Congolese staff during World Cup qualifying penalty shootout defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>RABAT, Morocco (AP) &#8211; Congolese team staff used voodoo during a penalty shootout, Nigeria coach Eric Schell has claimed after the African soccer powerhouse was weakened. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Lost in qualifying<\/span> For the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Congo won the African playoff final late Sunday on penalties after a 1-1 draw with their substitute goalkeeper making two saves in the second half of extra time, and advanced to the intercontinental playoffs in March.<\/p>\n<p>Shell became agitated by the Congolese coaching staff during the shootout and was filmed moving aggressively towards his rival&#8217;s technical area.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Congolese guy did voodoo,&#8221; former Mali international Shell told reporters in the media mixed zone after the match. &#8220;Every time, every time, every time, that&#8217;s why I was a little nervous about him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked to explain what happened, Schell made a gesture waving a water bottle.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria failed to qualify for consecutive World Cups despite star striker <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Victor Osimhen<\/span> and <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Ademola Lookman<\/span> They are in the prime of their careers.<\/p>\n<p>Osimhen was injured in the first half on Sunday and was substituted at half-time with the score 1-1, while Lookman was also sent off in the second half.<\/p>\n<p>Congo coach Sebastian Desabre made a goalkeeper change in the 119th minute, bringing on Timothy Fayulu in place of Lionel Mpathi, with a penalty shootout in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Fayulu saved two of Nigeria&#8217;s six spot kicks, the second by Moses Simon and the sixth by Semi Ajayi before Congolese Prime Minister Mbemba sealed the victory.<\/p>\n<h2>world cup history<\/h2>\n<p>Fayul&#8217;s feat was the same as the most famous substitute goalkeeper in the World Cup shootout at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>It is a famous story that Dutch manager Louis van Gaal sacked Jasper Cillessen and sent him on his way. <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Tim Krull makes two key saves<\/span> They played against Costa Rica and sent the Netherlands to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Geneva-born Fayul is currently playing with Armenian champions Noah on loan from Swiss club Sion. This season, he has been a regular in the UEFA Conference League.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA will draw the six-team bracket for the intercontinental playoffs on Thursday. Congo will be joined by Bolivia, New Caledonia, Iraq or the United Arab Emirates, and two teams from CONCACAF from the North American region, which concluded their qualifying program on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/world-cup-qualifying-nigeria-congo-voodoo-a3e974285b6f1917d56db47b99ffeb91\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RABAT, Morocco (AP) &#8211; Congolese team staff used voodoo during a penalty shootout, Nigeria coach Eric Schell has claimed after the African soccer powerhouse was weakened. Lost in qualifying For the 2026 World Cup. Congo won the African playoff final late Sunday on penalties after a 1-1 draw with their substitute goalkeeper making two saves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria coach claims he received &#039;voodoo&#039; from Congolese staff during World Cup qualifying penalty shootout defeat - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/nigeria-coach-claims-he-received-voodoo-from-congolese-staff-during-world-cup-qualifying-penalty-shootout-defeat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria coach claims he received &#039;voodoo&#039; from Congolese staff during World Cup qualifying penalty shootout defeat - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"RABAT, Morocco (AP) &#8211; Congolese team staff used voodoo during a penalty shootout, Nigeria coach Eric Schell has claimed after the African soccer powerhouse was weakened. 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