{"id":14259,"date":"2025-11-18T02:38:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/18\/nigeria-coach-furious-after-discovering-alleged-voodoo-magic-by-congolese-staff-during-penalty-shootout\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T02:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T02:38:24","slug":"nigeria-coach-furious-after-discovering-alleged-voodoo-magic-by-congolese-staff-during-penalty-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/18\/nigeria-coach-furious-after-discovering-alleged-voodoo-magic-by-congolese-staff-during-penalty-shootout\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria coach furious after discovering alleged &#8216;voodoo magic&#8217; by Congolese staff during penalty shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\"><span class=\"capital-letter\">I<\/span>In soccer, everything has a ritual. Coaches practice plays to perfection, players cross themselves before taking the pitch, and other players practice every move until it becomes instinct. Focus, preparation, and a little superstition. Everything is \u201callowed\u201d in order to control something that seems out of control: luck.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Nigeria coach furious after discovering alleged &#8216;voodoo witchcraft&#8217; by Congolese staff during penalty period<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>But on Sunday, during the penalty shootout that will decide the 2026 World Cup playoffs, something felt different. Nigeria lost to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and coach Eric Schell could not contain his anger. He said this was because members of the Congolese team had been practicing &#8220;voodoo&#8221; the entire time.<\/p>\n<p>After this, Schell charged towards the opponent&#8217;s bench, his rage evident. Thrusts, struggles and frantic gestures filled the technical area, as if every movement was charged with electricity. His defiant gaze and hands reaching for something invisible gave the impression that he was facing something far beyond the players on the field. For him, it wasn&#8217;t just a game. It was a confrontation with an unexplainable force.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Filming a moving video of motherhood under the waves<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Beyond skills and strategies<\/h2>\n<p>In the end, no matter what the other party did, Nigeria was defeated by its &#8220;black magic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">A woman shows off her early morning workout and is impressed by her toned physique<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Because that&#8217;s the game. Sometimes victory goes to the team with the best tactics, sometimes to the team that executes with perfect precision, sometimes to the team that, like that day, brings a mystery that no one can explain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/2025\/11\/18\/691bccae22601df3578b4592.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IIn soccer, everything has a ritual. Coaches practice plays to perfection, players cross themselves before taking the pitch, and other players practice every move until it becomes instinct. Focus, preparation, and a little superstition. Everything is \u201callowed\u201d in order to control something that seems out of control: luck. Nigeria coach furious after discovering alleged &#8216;voodoo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria coach furious after discovering alleged &#039;voodoo magic&#039; by Congolese staff during penalty shootout - 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\/18\/nigeria-coach-furious-after-discovering-alleged-voodoo-magic-by-congolese-staff-during-penalty-shootout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigeria coach furious after discovering alleged &#039;voodoo magic&#039; by Congolese staff during penalty shootout - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IIn soccer, everything has a ritual. 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