30th March, 2022
By Sani Idris
Kaduna football enthusiasts have expressed dissatisfaction over Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup finals.
The Super Eagles held Ghana’s Black Stars to a 1-1 draw at the second leg of the play-off at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday.
The first leg played in Kumasi, Ghana ended in a goalless draw.
Football enthusiasts expressed their anger when they spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
“The era of entertainment football is over. Playing and winning is what is obtainable now. It is unfortunate that we have players but we don’t have a team.
“We have already had enough, especially with the unfortunate incident of train attack in Kaduna. To add to the pains, fans vandalised structures and property at the stadium.
“We must learn to be patriotic no matter the situation we find ourselves. The cost of fixing of vandalised property will still be borne by government,’’ Bashir Idris, a football buff said.
A viewing centre operator, Francis Oche, said: “this is what you get when you do not invite natural, creative midfielders that will dictate the game pattern to camp.
“Such player should be feeding strikers with meaningful passes that could result in goals. Players should be more serious. They played the game as if nothing was at stake.’’
Another enthusiast, Rayyan Ibrahim, a footballer with a local club, said: “Super Eagles don’t have a coach; simple. Why did we sack Rohr that got us here and replaced him with an Austin Eguavoen that couldn’t cross the group phase of the 2021 AFCON?
“His starting line-up on Tuesday showed him as a coach who works by public opinion and not his own tactical ability. For me, it was his fault. I knew he would not qualify Nigeria for Qatar.
“All we need to do now is to overhaul the team, the technical crew and the NFF.’’
According to Abdulganiyu Zubairu, “the coach is not tactical; he does not know how to read a game.
“As a result, we didn’t come up with a good game plan right from the first leg in Kumasi, where we played a 0-0,’’ he said.