Afcon exit: Eagles paid for their mistakes, says Eguavoen

Eguavoen shouting at the players, when the game is becoming tough.

Super Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen said his team made mistakes and they paid for it, after they crashed out in the round of 16 of the tournament to Tunisia on Sunday night.

The Carthage Eagles that struggled for points in the group stage came to the Ominisports Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua, to shock the Super Eagles with a 1-0 win, despite the huge support in the City where the Eagles played all their games.

“Slight mistake from one of our best players, the timing was wrong and that was the only chance they had to take advantage of it.

“We came here with vision and we gave it all. In the Round of 16, we all know what it means, when you lose you go home, when you win you remain in the tournament and that is the song we have been singing.

“I can’t really blame these boys, because they gave their all, they fought for it and, it just wasn’t to be.”

Tunisia outsmarted us, we had no leader — Okocha 

Former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha says Tunisia out-smarted Nigeria and that there was no leadership in the 10-man Super Eagles team in Sunday’s shock last sixteen loss to The Carthage Eagles.

The prolific Okocha, during the peak of his football career.

Nigeria’s 100 percent fairy tale run from the group stage ended in heartbreak when a very pragmatic Tunisia beat them 1-0 in Garoua to reach the quarterfinals to make up for a painful  group stage run that was later compounded by a litany of pre-match positive Covid 19  cases.

Veteran striker Youssef Msakni put Tunisia ahead with an inspiring long-range goal in the 47th.

Nigeria then suffered a further setback when 59th minute substitute Alex Iwobi barely lasted seven minutes before he was sent-off after Msakni felt the force of his studs.

“We had a bad day and when it rains, it pours,” Okocha said.

Okocha said the team just lacked the urgency on the night of a team hungry to bring home the AFCON crown.

“But the major problem we had today, if I may criticise the team, was a lack of leadership,” the Super Eagles legend said.

“At no point did I have the impression that there were one or two players that wanted to take the responsibility to talk to the other players, fire them up and get them going.

“They were all playing at the same pace and leaving each other to sort things for themselves.”

Okocha also slammed the Super Eagles’ group stage engine room, Moses Simon, for being too one-dimensional against Tunisia.

“I think it is also important for a team or players to know when they are needed when other players need to be helped and today I didn’t see that from our team,” Okocha said.

“I always say you are as good as your next game; you can qualify with 100 percent run but if you don’t win in your next game it counts for nothing.

“We didn’t do enough to win this match and we were taught a life lesson.

“You need to take responsibility. As a player you need to realise that plan A is not working so what can I do to influence the game?

“Should I try and keep it simple? Should I try and change and play in another position to try to create something and to try to do something to help and improve my team?

“Like Simon, today he made it easier for the Tunisians to mark him out because he was just trying to force issues.

“Sometimes if it’s not working, try and keep it simple, be unpredictable, I think he was predictable.”

Okocha added that he hoped Nigeria had learned a valuable lesson from their shock exit about just how the natural law of justice works in football.

“We set our standards so high during the group stage that we all believed that it could be our time but again like I always say, football has the final say, you have to do your business, you don’t have to rely on your opponent,” he said.

“You have to show the desire that you want it the most and if you want to be the champion you must beat every team in that competition to become the champion and today we found out that if we didn’t do our job, Monday morning after  breakfast we are going home.”

Aggrieved fans wish death for Super Eagles goalie 

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, has been receiving death threats since the elimination of Nigeria at the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.

Nigeria lost 1-0 to Tunisia in the Round of 16 game played at the Garoua centre last Sunday night, with some people accusing Maduka of selling the game.

Since the match, some individuals have taken to the Instagram handle of the goalkeeper to drop some nasty comments.

“You are not a good goalkeeper, please go and learn,” an aggrieved fan wrote.

Ia_isle wrote: “Maduka you no go live long na you sell this AFCON” as another comment from clifford_marius “Guy…e no go better 4 u…I pray say u no go see next month…na for plane crash u go die.”

Shorunmu, Aghahowa disagree over Okoye’s performance 

Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu has urged Nigerian fans not to blame keeper Maduka Okoye for conceding a goal in their round of 16 Africa Cup of Nations ouster by Tunisia.

Okoye failed to deal with Youssef Msakni’s low shot from outside the box and it was the end of the road for the Super Eagles.

“A lot of people said Okoye caused the goal but I don’t want to believe that because if you look at the shot very well from that distance, the speed was very high and before the ball got to Okoye, it swerved.

“After the goal, they tried the same action again with another shot from outside the 18-yard box but thank God, Okoye reacted quickly and pushed it for a corner-kick.

But former Super Eagles striker Julius Aghahowa disagreed.

“Okoye should have saved that ball because he saw the ball coming towards his direction.

“I am really disappointed and feel he should have done better. This was a game we didn’t deserve to lose at all. But it has happened, and we have to accept our fate.”

Super Eagles were distracted by constant calls, promises — Peterside Idah

Super Eagles former goalkeeper, Peterside Idah, has said constant calls and promises of cash rewards from top government functionaries and prominent Nigerians distracted the team against Tunisia in the African Cup of Nations tie.

Idah spoke on Monday on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme as he analyzed factors that contributed to the defeat and exit of the team at the tournament.

The former international said it was wrong to have allowed the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema; and the President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, to address players during halftime.

Idah maintained that when people who are not part of the coaching team are allowed to address players during halftime, promising them cash rewards, the players get distracted.

“We can’t have the President of the NFF addressing the players in the second half. That is not his responsibility. We can’t have the CBN governor addressing the players at halftime. That is not his responsibility. We can’t have the owner of Air Peace addressing the players at halftime. What time will the coach have?” Idah asked.

He said the next coach of the Super Eagles must make sure that he is given full authority and does not permit such behaviour.

Idah also said the Super Eagles were overconfident and were already being addressed as champions when the tournament itself was still in the early stages.

“We had won the gold in the bedroom. We had already started calling ourselves champions when we had not even qualified.

I said it the other day that officials would begin to travel to the Super Eagles’ camp to make promises. ‘If you win the cup, this is the money you will get’. I mentioned this before.

“There is a psychology of football. When you go to play football, you start from zero. You don’t go as a winner because you underestimate your opponent. I said this before that in our dressing room, we had officials that were not football coaches going to address the players and I said this over and over again. The mindset of a player is very fickle.

“He has to think of the match 100 per cent. He doesn’t have to think about money; he doesn’t have to think about family problems or women. He has to think about football.

T-I-T-B-I-T-S:

Fans reject Eagles shirts after loss to Tunisia

Once revered and high in demand here in Garoua, the Super Eagles jersey suffered its worst form of rejection from football fans after the Nigerian flag bearers bowed out of the Africa Cup of Nations following their defeat to Tunisia, Sunday.

Soon after the referee’s whistle signaling the end of the match, some fans, particularly those in the popular stand, began removing the jersey they had worn to the stadium, from their bodies. Some others who had extra clothes, quickly put them on to cover the Nigerian jersey.

It was the same story on the streets, where thousands of Garoua residents had, in solidarity with Nigeria, worn the Super Eagles jersey.

That is how life is. When one is succeeding, many people admire him, but in defeat, one is alone. That was the story of the Super Eagles in Garoua, Sunday night..

The good side of Garoua

Yes, Garoua is expensive. There are no taxis here. Okada is one major form of transport here. But their Okada(Commercial motorcycle) riders are generally cheating. Once they know you are a stranger, they want to practically sweep your pocket clean.

However, there are numerous good sides of Garoua. I do not know how the government in Cameroon has been able to achieve it, the light(power supply) here has been as constant as the northern star. 

It has not blinked for one second since my arrival here. Each time I return to my rented apartment and I switch on the light, it has always been there. You put it off, sleep and wake any time of the night, the light is there waiting for you. And I marvel. Why can’t Nigeria get it right as it affects electricity.

In some parts of Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, electricity distribution companies still share light among residents— one day on, one day off. Who do us this thing?

Another good side is the good road network. Most of the major roads are well laid out and tarred. Sources say most of the work was done because of the ongoing Afcon. Does that matter?

Nigerians in Garoua

There are so many Nigerians in Garoua. Many of them have never stepped their feet on Nigerian soil. Some were only told that their great grandparents were Nigerians. 

It has become so distant that such people have lost all links with their country of origin. Yet the Nigerian spirit hardly diminish in them.

The case of Alhaji Hassan Badamasi is quite handy here. In a chat with Sports Vanguard at his office, Badamasi said his great-grandfather, the original Badamasi originated from Ibadan. He came to Garoua about two centuries ago. He was a very rich slave merchant.

“He would come buy slaves from Garoua and other surrounding towns, ship them through the River Benue to Port Harcourt.”

Badamasi said his great grandfather became so popular that he decided to settle in Garoua. The Badamasi has a street named after him in Garoua: Rue Alhaji Badamasi in central Garoua. He traced their lineage to his grandfather down to his own father.

He told me that it was not only his family from Nigeria that decided to remain in Garoua. “We have so many people here from Nigeria, especially people from Anambra state. Many of them are here dealing in motor spare parts.”

There are others in different trades, including artisans and okada riders.

That was why the Roumde Adjia stadium was always filled with Super Eagles jersey-bearing fans, waving the Nigerian flag. We actually have a huge chunk of our population out here.

Fixtures:

AFCON

Senegal vs Cape Verde 5pm

Morroco vs Mallawi 8pm

Afcon results:

Guinea 0 Gambia 1

Cameroun 2 Comoros 1

NPFL

Gombe 1 Tornados 0

Rivers United 2 Heartland 0

Culled from Vanguard