Nigerians have expressed disappointment over the 1-0 win of the highly rated national football team, Super Eagles, against Guinea Bissau in the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON).
The Super Eagles on Monday qualified for the ongoing 2023 AFCON’s next round after beating the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau 1-0 at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan but Nigerians are not too impressed..
The fans though extolled the team over the victory against Guinea-Bissau, but decried the teams’ inability to win convincingly in the Monday’s qualifying game.
Gbemiga Olaniyi, a football fan, said: “I am very happy with the way the Super Eagles are improving in their games but they can hardly find the net the ball.
“I am not impressed with the attack. Our strikers are not scoring goals and this is not too good,’’ he said in Abuja on Jan. 22 immediately after the march..
“I expected Victor Osimhen to have scored four goals by now, being in form and as the Africa Footballer of the Year. But, overall, the performance of the team was still impressive.” he said.
Emmanuel Olawuyi, another fan, said: “The Super Eagles needed to be scoring goals. The goal drought from the Super Eagles is not good, moving forward.
“If we intend to win this tournament, we need to be scoring goals.” he said.
Alade Monsuru, who claimed to be a sports analyst, corroborated the views of the other fans, saying Nigeria needed to be scoring goals if they are to win the tournament.
“The Super Eagles have only scored three goals from three matches, with one of the goals coming from a penalty kick and Monday’s goal an own goal.
“With the calibre of players we are parading and with the form of Victor Osimhen, Nigeria should not be having difficulties finding the back of the net.
“Nigeria is rated higher than the countries we played against in Group A and yet we did not take our opponents to the cleaners.
“I am just afraid of when we face a stronger and highly-rated country in the round of 16. With this situation, we may not be able to beat them if we can’t score goals.
“I hope the coach will do the needful and make the necessary corrections before the next round, so that we don’t get knocked out in the round of 16.” he said.
Former Green Eagles forward Felix Owolabi says the Super Eagles’ failure to score many goals at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is not as important as getting wins.
Owolabi, while reflecting on the Super Eagles’ qualification for the knockout stage of the competition said that winning matches was very important.
They could only secure the match’s maximum three points, which were necessary for a smooth passage to the knockout stage, courtesy an own goal by Djurtus’ defender Opa Sangante.
Owolabi who played for both Nigeria and the former IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan still commended the Super Eagles for a brave fight to qualify for the next round.
“In a game of 90 minutes, what people are expecting is the outcome, with the question ‘who won?’ This is because the side with the highest number of goals will be credited as the winners.
“If for any reason an opposing side scored an own goal, it is because of pressure and in the match, even if there was no own goal, we had players like Osimhen and others who could have scored.
“The own goal is counted in our favour, not minding who scored. What is important is who is the winner. But it is true that we are short of goal scoring abilities,” he said.
Super Eagles of Nigeria’s Coach, Jose Peseiro, said that his team was keeping the goals for the next round of the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
The Portuguese during his post-match news conference after a scrappy 1-0 win over Guinea Bissau in the last group A match.
The Super Eagles coach said he was happy with the 1-0 win while congratulating the Equatorial Guinea for topping the table.
He admitted that the team wasted many scoring chances but claimed that they were keeping the goals for the next stage of the competition.
Peseiro explained that he was not afraid, or even care, about Nigeria’s next opponent in the round of 16 as he was focused on every game.
“Today, we played very good football but we missed scoring chances which is not good for us.
“Our striker, Victor Osimhen, was not at his best but I’m happy we are through to the next stage.
“I want to congratulate Equatorial Guinea for leading the group with seven points after scoring many goals. I also congratulate my team for making it to the next round.
“Today’s match was a tough one; we created four opportunities but we couldn’t convert them. But I’m still happy we progressed to the next stage.
“I believe we kept our goals for the next round; we will definitely work on our finishing ahead of our next match.
“For the next match, if you score goals you proceed to the next round,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guinea Bissau handler Baciro Candé has said that they would continue to learn after their defeat against Nigeria.
“We will continue to learn as we played good football today. This tournament is full of surprises for all of us. This is a great competition with great learning opportunities and I believe we shall do better next time.
“Our first match was different from the second match and today’s match was different from our last match. I think our players should be congratulated and should be praised for their commitment and willingness to fight.
“In the matches we played, we showed we have a brilliant future; in three to four years, our team will be more impactful,” he said.