Nigeria, Feb. 4 -- Rivers United's seeming elimination from the CAF Champions League at the hands of Zambia's Power Dynamos has reopened an uncomfortable but familiar conversation in Nigerian football.

When an NPFL-leading side, dominant and disciplined at home, suddenly looks toothless on the continental stage, where does the failure truly lie? With the League, the coaching, or somewhere deeper?

Two senior Nigerian sports journalists, China Acheru and Babatunde Koiki, offer perspectives that do not merely apportion blame but instead expose the fault lines in Nigeria's football ecosystem.

By every local metric, Rivers United are elite. They currently top the Nigerian Professional Football League despite having played three fewer games ...