8th October, 2011
Nigerians have continued to show their displeasure over the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon next year.
The Eagles, despite knowing that they needed an outright win against Syli Nationale of Guinea to scale the hurdle to the Nations Cup, failed to live up to expectations as they drew 2-2 with the Guineans at the Abuja National Stadium on Saturday.
The result shows that the Syli Nationale go through to the Nations Cup as Group B winners.
Speaking after the disappointing match, former England player, Nigerian John Fashanu, said that it was so sad that Eagles could not win the tie despite knowing what was at stake.
“I felt so sad with the draw with Guinea,” said the former Norwich City and Aston Villa star, who was born in Kensington, London, England on 18 September, 1962.
“It’s unfortunate that Nigeria’s flag will not be hoisted in next year’s Nations Cup. The Eagles gave room for Guinea in the last minutes of the match and this cost them so dearly. I only hope that the players will learn from this defeat,” he said.
Former Green Eagles player, Folorunsho Okenla, blamed Samson Siasia and his star studded Eagles for underrating the Guineans.
“It is very bad that our team underrated Guinea. See what this cost us, we won’t play in the Nations Cup,” he said.
By Sunday Akintoye