Super Eagles interim manager, Austine Eguavoen, has declared
that his team is missing the expertise of Odion Ighalo and Victor Osimhen in
front of goal at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, in Cameroon.
Eguavoen said this ahead of Nigeria’s final Group D fixture
against Guinea-Bissau on Wednesday.
Ighalo was denied the chance to represent Nigeria at the
2021 AFCON after the former Manchester United star was not released by his
club, Al Shabab.
Osimhen, on the other hand, was replaced in Nigeria’s squad
for the 2021 AFCON by Slavia Prague’s Peter Olayinka after failing to recover
in time from a facial injury.
In the absence of both strikers, Taiwo Awoniyi has led the
attack line for Eguavoen’s men against Egypt and Sudan, but the Union Berlin
attacker is yet to make much impact in the competition.
The Super Eagles missed a number of good chances in their
two AFCON wins against Egypt and Sudan, but Eguavoen admitted things would have
been different with Ighalo and Osimhen at his disposal.
“They [Ighalo and Osimhen] are two different players who can
actually score two goals out of three chances. Awoniyi and Sadiq are two
different types of players too,” Eguavoen said after the team’s training
session on Sunday in Garoua.
“That is not to say they can’t score goals. Awoniyi has been
scoring goals in the German league and Sadiq as well.
“The good thing is that we are not giving the responsibility
to the strikers alone. Other players, too, can score goals for us.
“We have given Aribo the chance to move up the field and he
has done that very well. He could have scored one or two goals against Sudan.
Anybody can score in our team.
“However, Ighalo and Osimhen are two different players from
what we’ve now, that is why we are trying to play to our strengths.”
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This is how coach scatters good team. Ighalo and Osimhen are not magician. We may have lost the games played if the two were on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteThis is the winning team Nigeria has for the competition