Don't Pick Favourites Yet, W'Cup Just Starting, Onazi

Former Super Eagles midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has warned against picking early favourites at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He believes the tournament is still too new to say which countries will perform well, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Onazi, who played for Nigeria in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, pointed out how big teams have struggled in their opening matches. This shows that the group stage can be very unpredictable.

“Well, the World Cup is still just getting started. We can’t say anything about favourites now. It’s too early. Looking at different countries with terrible first games, like Portugal, even Spain and they’ve played well in their next game.

“So let’s see how the second matches come up till the round of 32, then we will see how the sharp teams will look like,” Onazi said.

Onazi's comments follow his recent praise for Lionel Messi. Messi's skills at the tournament continue to impress many in the football world.

Messi scored a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria. This brought his total World Cup goals to 16, tying him with Germany’s Miroslav Klose for the most goals ever in World Cup history.

Onazi, who faced Messi in both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, said Messi's ongoing success shows that talent can overcome age.

“Messi, as we all know, is world class. At his age, he is still doing wonders. This is to show the level of talent and to remind everyone that age is just a number when you have class,” he said.

“He has consistently shown his world-class performance any time, any day. He does not talk too much, he just shows his work on the pitch,” Onazi added.

Nigeria is missing from the expanded 48-team tournament. The Super Eagles are watching from the sidelines after failing to qualify from a group that included South Africa, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and the Republic of Benin.