The signs have been there of the lack of progress with the Super Eagles under Gernot Rohr. There hasn't been any evidence that this team has moved up any level for a long time.
To Rohr's credit, the Super Eagles have enjoyed stability since he stepped in with easy passage in qualifiers for two Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tourneys and a FIFA World Cup.
But the team has been stagnant in recent years; the football is not aesthetically pleasing, they do not dominate smaller teams, and the Super Eagles are still far off the top tier sides in Africa and the world.
Despite these setbacks, the Super Eagles have never been in any crisis mode. There was that home loss to South Africa in the first group game of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, but there was no sense of any danger, and all focus was on Cameroon in the race to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
On Thursday, October 7, 2021, however, the Super Eagles sank to a new low. A 1-0 home loss to Central African Republic in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.
This had not happened in 40 years, but the Super Eagles have lost a FIFA World Cup qualifier at home under Rohr's watch.
As the post mortem continues about this terrible day in Nigerian football, some might be fair to the Franco-German.
How do you expect commitment from a coach who has not been paid for more than eight months and without two of his most important players in Wilfred Ndidi and Alex Iwobi?
But Rohr never complained about his delayed salary and pleaded the fifth when he was asked about it in a press conference ahead of the game.
While it's important that we mention the difficulties for him; it is totally obvious that this game was on him.
Awful performance
It was a truly awful performance from the Super Eagles. The first half was a bore-fest, with the home team enjoying most of the possession but without any inventiveness.
Kelechi Iheanacho played as the link between the attack and midfield, but he was very slow with the ball and could only manage a shot on target.
The Central African Republic had no problems at all. The main focus was keeping it tight at the back, and they had it easy with Super Eagles' slow buildup.
The Super Eagles had a bright start to the second half. Victor Osimhen hit the post with a left-footed effort inside the box, and in the follow-up, Taiwo Awoniyi failed to score a sitter after Moses Simon put him through in the 52nd minute.
There weren't many chances for the Super Eagles afterwards with only a Simon shot inside the box from a good area that flew over the post.
CAR on their own defended well and looked to catch the Super Eagles on the break. They did so a couple of times but not precisely enough to hurt Nigeria.
In the 90th minute, they finally got a breakthrough. It wasn't precise enough either, but there was a little bit of luck and a lot of running.
A pass was played in between the central defence pairing of William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun. Without any communication, the Oyibo Wall pairing was out of sync, with both defenders going for and failing to get the ball.
Karl Namganda kept running and caught on his slice of luck, getting one V one against Super Eagles goalkeeper Francis Uzoho and firing into the net for the game's winner.
The visitors jubilated widely, leaving the whole of Teslim Balogun Stadium stunned.
You can get correct score predictions backed up by data here as the Super Eagles travel to Yaounde to take on CAR at their temporary home on Sunday, October 10.