11th July, 2011
Nigerian fans living in Ghana were livid at the tactics employed by coach Augustine Eguavoen in their 2-0 defeat by the Black Meteors yesterday.
The Ghanaian team beat their arch-rivals to qualify for the football event of the All Africa Games on away goals rule as both sides were pegged at 3-3 at the end of the day.
The vociferous Nigerian supporters, who came in their numbers to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, have attributed the loss to ‘the tactical bankruptcy’ of their head coach, an ex-international.
“The coach cost us this game”, a Nigerian fan told GHANAsoccernet.com after watching their beloved Dream Team V crash at the feet of the Ghanaians.
“How can you play for more than 90 minutes without even attempting a goal on target, Eguavoen doesn’t have the mental strength to play away games,” he lamented.
Eguavoen, a former Super Eagles’ coach dodged the lenses of the Nigerian media upon arrival at the team’s hotel where he was said to have locked himself in his room all night.
Already there are calls for him to either resign or be sacked after failing to hold on to a significant 3-1 advantage carried from the first leg, but this would be decided when the team returns to Nigeria.
Meanwhile, vice chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Mike Umeh, said that Eguavoen and his U-23 Eagles are to blame for the loss against Ghana. He said the football authority gave the team enough support to secure the ticket to play at the All Africa Games but they threw away that advantage.
“The coach and the team are on their own,†said Umeh on Brila FM early today. “We gave the team necessary logistics to prepare for the second leg in Ghana only for them to lose everything. It is so sad,†he said.
Chairman of the technical committee of the NFF, Chris Green, said Nigeria lost to a better team. According to Green, the U-23 Eagles failed to live up to expectations, adding that they went to sleep when they were supposed to be awake to defend the 3-1 result they secured in Benin a fortnight ago.