LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Nigerian forward Victor Boniface said he\u2019s been \u201cunlucky\u201d in front of goal for the Super Eagles, attributing his lack of scoring to misfortune rather than poor form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boniface, who has scored once in 13 appearances for Nigeria, made the comments during a media session organized by the Bundesliga and in an interview with Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba. His only goal came in a lopsided win against S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been unlucky with goals for the Super Eagles,\u201d Boniface said. \u201cI know I haven\u2019t shown my best yet, but I\u2019m proud to represent my country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The striker, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, has faced criticism from fans and analysts over his performances. Some have questioned his tactical discipline and ability to convert chances in key matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boniface pushed back against what he called \u201cshallow\u201d analysis based solely on match statistics. \u201cSome people just look at live scores and think they know everything,\u201d he said. \u201cFootball is more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His remarks come as Nigeria prepares for the 2026 World Cup playoff and AFCON 2025, with the squad set to face Gabon, DR Congo and Cameroon later this month. Boniface is expected to be part of the team traveling to Morocco for the qualifiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Nigerian international Garba Lawal responded to Boniface\u2019s remarks, saying the striker needs to \u201cfocus less on luck and more on positioning.\u201d Lawal added that the national team requires clinical finishing, especially in high-stakes matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On social media, fans expressed both support and frustration. \u201cBoniface is a great talent, but we need goals, not excuses,\u201d one user wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Another replied, \u201cHe\u2019s being honest. Sometimes the ball just doesn\u2019t fall your way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports analyst Bimbo Adeoye defended Boniface, citing his strong club form in Germany. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the most promising forwards we have. The goals will come,\u201d Adeoye said during a segment on SuperSport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the scrutiny, Boniface said he remains committed to the national team and believes his form will improve. \u201cA few poor games don\u2019t define me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m still growing, and I\u2019ll keep working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Nigerian forward Victor Boniface said he\u2019s been \u201cunlucky\u201d in front of goal for the Super Eagles, attributing his lack of scoring to misfortune rather than poor form. Boniface, who has scored once in 13 appearances for Nigeria, made the comments during a media session organized by the Bundesliga and in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":23758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3,7],"tags":[725,724,723,175],"class_list":["post-23753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news","category-sports","tag-supereagles","tag-victorboniface","tag-boniface","tag-lagos"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Victor-Boniface.webp?fit=860%2C573&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23756,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23753\/revisions\/23756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}