23rd January, 2013
By Sunday Akintoye
Former Chairman Lagos Divisional Football Association, Dotun Coker has expressed. Disappointment with the poor performance of Super Eagles against Stallion of Burkina Faso in the group C opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations played yesterday.
Coke who was in South Africa. To cheer the Eagles to victory said immediately Efe Ambrose was given red card, Eagles began to jittery to hold on to ball with the short time before them.
He explained that lack of good coordination between midfield and defence gave Burkina Faso to control the game in the tail of the match which earned them equaliser in added time.
“It is a pity that we saw uncoordinated Eagles against Burkina Faso. Our Eagles could not hold on to ball in the last 10 minutes of the game which we dearly paid for. Football nowadays keeps on changing and Burkina Faso did a good job by putting pressure on Eagles till they got their equalizer,” he said.
Commenting on their next game against Africa Champions, Zambia, Coker said he will not surprise if Eagles lose the match unless if there is total change in their approach.
He said if Eagles continue to play the way they played their opening match against Burkina Faso, Nigerians back home should not expect much from their senior national team.
“The group is open now and every team has the equal chance to qualify from the group stage. We are now in dicey situation that we must beat defending champions, Zambia or they should forget the tournament. I am afraid if Eagles will not repeat their performance against Zambia. I wish them best of luck in their remaining matches,” he said.
indiscipline and, negative reaction to the game after Efe Ambrose was red carded and, failure of the big boss to direct his players to possess the ball for as long as possible knowing it was few seconds to end of the game cost them the outcome of the match. in addition, lack of good coordination between the midfield and the defence exposed our goalkeeper.