Nigeria’s stand-in coach, Augustine Eguavoen, has described the Super Eagles’ performance in Monday night’s 2-1 defeat to the Amavubi of Rwanda in the final Group D match of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Uyo as a very sad outcome, Completesports.com reports.
Eguavoen’s disappointment was apparent as he addressed the post-match press conference.
“Below standard,” Eguavoen lamented. “And I feel very sad.
“This result was not what we planned for. We scored and were pushing for a second goal, but, quite against the run of play, we conceded. I tried to change the formation, but it didn’t work.”
Also Read: ‘Proud We Beat Super Eagles, But Sad We Missed 2025 AFCON’ —Rwanda Coach Spittler
The Super Eagles manager acknowledged that sometimes such unexpected results are part of football.
He added: “These things happen on certain days, and today was one of those days. When we conceded the second goal, I made changes by introducing two strikers, yet it still didn’t work.”
Eguavoen also reflected on his tactical changes during the previous game against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Ivory Coast, which yielded similar disappointing results.
Asked if he would adopt the same approach in next year’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers, should he remain in charge, Eguavoen maintained confidence in the Super Eagles’ current squad.
“We keep trying; football is all about winning, losing, or drawing. But I believe we have a good squad, a very strong one,” he said.
“Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen for us today. I still believe in this team. It has character and a strong mentality.
Also Read: AFCON 2025Q: How Super Eagles Rated In Disappointing Loss To Rwanda
“Like I said earlier, we conceded against the run of play, and then, late in the game, we conceded again. At that point, it became very difficult to recover.”
On Boniface and Iheanacho’s Form
Eguavoen addressed concerns over the performances of Bayer Leverkusen striker, Victor Boniface, and Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho, both of whom struggled to make an impact during the match.
“Boniface is a top-class player. We’ve seen him prove that time and again for his Bundesliga club. We’ve been giving him opportunities, including trying him in different roles. He remains an integral part of the national team,” Eguavoen remarked.
“As for Kelechi Iheanacho, he needs confidence. He’s been affected by criticism, but I’ve continued to support and talk to him.”
By Sab Osuji, in Uyo
19 Comments
You were warned not to field a weaker team, but would you listen? If you were a reasonable coach, you would have aimed for maximum points, knowing that the Libyan debacle is still up. As it is now, our qualification is not certain yet. Suppose CAS orders a replay. Are we sure of beating Libya? Daft.
THAT IS THE REASON WHY I WILL BLAME YOU (EQUAVEON) FOR STILL KEEPING INVITING INCONSISTENT, IRRELEVANT, IRREGULAR, BENCH WARMER PLAYERS INTO THE SUPER EAGLE TEAM.
SOMETIMES, IT IS NOT UNTIL YOU USE PLAYER FOR TEN MATCHES BEFORE YOU KNOW THAT HE HAVE QUALITIES TO OFFER THE TEAM.
** IN TUNISIA 94 AFCON, AMUNEKE ONLY PLAY FINAL, AND THE WHOLE NIGERIA KNOW THAT HE HAS SOMETHING TO OFFER TO THE TEAM IN FUTURE MATCHES, WHICH HE EVEN BENCHED EXPERIENCE PLAYER (IKPEBA) ON THE TEAM.
** LIKEWISE ALSO, AMOKACHI DIDN’T SCORE A SINGLE GOAL IN TUNISIA ’94 AFCON, BUT NIGERIANS ARE 100% SATISFIED WITH HIS QUALITY OF PLAY HE ALWAYS OFFERED TO THE TEAM ON THE FIELD OF PLAY, WHICH MAKE SOME FANS LIKE HIM MORE THAN YEKINI.
** MORE ALSO, PLAYERS LIKE BABANGIDA, FINIDI, UDEZE, OBODO, KANU, UTAKA DIDN’T USE TO SCORE GOALS MOST TIMES, BUT OFFER QUALITIES ON THE FIELD OF PLAY WHILE PLAYING.
#### We need new players that can challenge IWOBI, BONIFACE, NDIDI, AJAYI, SADIQ, MUSA, IF possible send them out of the super eagle. Just like Nwabali sent out UZOHO out of the team.
IN THE OLDEN DAYS, NEW PLAYERS ALWAYS GRAB THEIR CHANCES WHENEVER THE COACH GIVE THEM OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY AND RELEVANT FOR FUTURE GAMES DESPITE ARRAY OF BEST PLAYERS AVAILABLE AT THAT TIME.
** FOR EXAMPLE;
1. Amuneke grab his chances in 1994
2. OKOCHA, OLISEH grab their chance
in 1993
3. AGHAHOWA….in AFCON 2000
4. UDEZE … in qualifier against
Zambia in year 2000.
5. ENYEAMA… in 2002 world cup
OTHER PLAYERS are: OSAZE, UTAKA, YOBO, MARTINS, I.K UCHE, AYILA, ABBEY GEORGE,MUSA, IKEME, TROOST-EKONG, CHUKWUEZE, NWABALI.
LET TRY MORE NEW PLAYERS THAT ARE READY TO DIE ON THE PITCH AND FORGET ABOUT EXPERIENCE, EGO, SENIORITY AS A YARDSTICK IN SELECTING PLAYER.
MAJA, ORBAN, AKINWUMI, DESSERS, SEBASTIAN-OSIGWE, EBUEHI AKPOM should be given chance once again.
*** NFF SHOULD EMPLOY A GOOD STANDARD FOREIGN COACH(that know African football & players) FOR HIM TO BE INVITING BEST PLAYERS AT THE MOMENT WITHOUT SENTIMENT. AND WE SHOULD STOP CELEBRATING FLUKE WINNING!!!!!!!!
Boss grow balls and bench this players. Don’t come and make excuses for them
It is true. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Read this again:
“We keep trying; football is all about winning, losing, or drawing. BUT I BELIEVE WE HAVE A GOOD SQUAD, A VERY STRONG ONE,” he said. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen for us today. I STILL BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM. It has character and a strong mentality.”
A squad that never defeated Rwanda that are 90 places below Nigeria in FIFA rankings OVER TWO LEGS, is still believed in by this “coach”. Lol.
So, this is the team that will rescue our world cup qualifiers campaign if Eguavoen stays. Haba! He is still unrepentant. Shame!
Get this dude out already and get us a competent foreign coach. Tired of this tried and failed experiment with this class of 94 poor man coaches. The Super Eagles is too talented for this.
Eguavoen can say whatever he likes, it is a prerogative. But the truth is, with him in charge, The Super Eagles would never qualify for the world cup. And it is not a curse, it is just a given.
One wonders, how he remains head of the technical department of the FA. It shows how disingenuous and incompetent the Federation is. Augustine Eguavoen isn’t cut out for this. He simply doesn’t have it.
Truly, he doesn’t have it. A coach that can’t utilize such players as no business handling the SE. Imagine ordinary Rwanda having the ability to play around the SE. No tactics from the so called coaches only relying on individual moments such as the goal scored.
Eguavoen is not good enough. He has to go.
Eguavoen is very good enough. He has not to go.
the above according to francis arara segun kumbie obiakor olaosebikan aka backdor fender bender lmaaoo! kai! oboy men sorry for yer life! pmsl!
Eguavoen is very good enough. He has not to go.
the above according to francis arara segun kumbie obiakor west olaosebikan aka jackdor fender bender lmaaoo!
kai! oboy men sorry for yer life! pmsl!
The question is are the nff ready to hirer a good tactical coach that can work on the mindset of the players.
Iheanacho, senior man, is at his best when used as false 9 or support striker or even a number 10.
Coach Eguavoen used him last week and we all saw how he flawed in this position that even Nigerians were calling for his head, but if you used someone out of position and it didn’t work why repeat this again? Why use him when you have natural wingers sitting idle?
Remember the Rwandese are still coming back in March and we have just given them the necessary confidence they need that the “almighty super eagles” is beatable.
Who knows what would have happened in Libya had we played that game, remember we struggled to beat them in Uyo and might be more difficult beating them at home.
I think Coach Eguavoen still needs to go for coaching refresher courses.
Dead rubber game or not, our local coaches need to step up. And if Nigerians start clamoring for an experienced foreign coach they will say we are not patriotic.
The coach should stop inviting below average players to the camp. Nigeria is loaded with talented players home and abroad.
This match really exposed below average players in the team.
Nff is not a serious organisation. We lost the world cup ticket several months ago. As long as gusau and his cohorts and eguaevon are in charge we will not qualify for the world cup.
Please point of correction, Nigeria don’t have a quality team at all but just bunch of uncommitted players, I can bet my money any day that even if quardiola takes up the coaching of this team, he still can’t achieve anything, because the team lacks quality, beside osihmen, and to some extent lookman and Simon. This guy’s are not committed. I am happy that Okoye finally have his way because Nigerians are very ungrateful after all nwaballi has done, I think now we can compare the two keepers and some people can at least keep quiet, this is the first time Nigeria is having an average midfield team, after onyeka, onyedika, bashiru were discovered. Nigeria midfield, defence and worst of it goalkeeper has been a collapsed system not until nwaballi was discovered, to me Nigeria team is just fashionion oriented team not boys that want to be committed and gives their all
But Peserio nearly won AFCON with almost the same team just 9 months ago…..? So I really dont get your ‘even guadiola will not achieve anything’ gist.
Finidi and Eguavoen have both combined to make it feel like it was long ago we were leading CIV at halftime of the 2023/24 AFCON final earlier this year….LMAOoo.
Your overhyped Nwabali dropped the most disastrous howler any Nigerian goalkeeper has dropped since 1997 vs Benin a few nights ago. And that isn’t even his first…..he’s been dropping clangers after clangers…..LMAOooo….including helping to throw away our lead in the AFCON final.
He dropped an Aurelio Gomes vs Benin and all of you went silent like babies who were born mute….LMAOOoo. Uzoho and Okoye dare not (to their 7th generations) drop the type of howler nwabali dropped for us on Thursday (his 5th preventable goal in just 17 appearances). He’s only favored because he’s the closest to being the ‘home-based’ player y’all have been fantasizing about seeing in the SE.
No wonder he’s still stuck in Chippa Utd after 17 SE Caps and 1 major tournament. Rwanda’s GK again showed by Kazier Chiefs chose him above your over-heralded Nwabali.
NFF should please get us quality foreign coaches and end this current SE nightmare ASAP….!!!
Our local coaches are just making history upandan. Losing to Benin and Rwanda. Teams we usually stream-role. This dude has always been never good. He should even be stripped of that technical role. How can this failure be a technical director for a foreign coach??
Useless bunch of clowns. Please NFF get this joke out of the dugout asap. Get us a foreign coach soonest. We must beat Rwanda in Kigali or else!!
Our local coaches are just making history upandan. Losing to Benin and Rwanda. Teams we usually stream-role. This dude has always been never good. He should even be stripped of that technical role. How can this failure be a technical director for a foreign coach??
Useless bunch of clowns. Please NFF get this joke out of the dugout asap. Get us a foreign coach soonest. We must beat Rwanda in Kigali or else!!
Honestly, I really want to know who interviewed Eguavoen for the TD role and passed him as being qualified for the job.
He’s been TD for almost 4 years now and its as if there is none. All our national teams are still lacking quality playmakers (both attacking and deep lying). Nothing revolutionary has happened to our football whether technically or tactically, at the grassroots or at the Senior national team level. National team coaches dont get any qualify technical support from his department and a good coach for the SE has been rocket since for a whole year.
Benin could get Rohr, Zambia could get Avram Grant, Mali could get Saintfiet, even Rwanda could get Torsten Frings…..but our own NFF and its good for nothing technical department cannot find a coach for our national team 1 year after Peserio dropped a notice he wouldnt be continuing with his job after AFCON.
Im sure Eguavoen works without an KPI’s as TD. Just come to office twice a week and earn N5m at the end of the month.
If it were to be a TD cum SE coach who was sure of himself, he would have told the NFF not to bother wasting money to fly 24 foreign based players down to play 2 dead rubber games when our much-hyped homebased players have been camping for 3 weeks. Its not Argentina or France we were playing. Its Benin and Rwanda.
During the days of Westerhof and Amodu, fringe and homebased players used to make their debuts in the SE mostly during AFCON qualifiers. It still didnt mean we would pick 1 point from a possible 6.
Eguavoen cannot beat his chest that he would secure 1 point in 2 games with homebased players who have been in camp for weeks. The real “gather and play” coach (apologies to Omo9ja for using his copyrighted term without permission).
He gathers clearly technically superior players, lines them up and tells them to go and use their individual brilliance and speed on the wings to conjure something for him….under the guise of ‘go and express yourself’. No clear tactical attacking strategies, no clear methodology. That is why after 1 match, all our opponents found him easy to nullify. Other big nations were scoring 10 plus goals in these qualifiers, Mr express yourself’s team scored just 6 goals in 5 games….3 of those 6 where in the first game when he took everyone unawares. So basically he only scored 3 in 4 games afterwards with all that attacking talent we boast of around the globe.
A desperate Benin on a neutral ground and Rwanda at home would have been a perfect dress rehearsal for the onslaught we are going to face from Ghana who are still hurting from not qualifying for AFCON. Their FA will rather want to use CHAN to save face now. Is it this 1-dimensional play we will use to overcome Ghana home and away in the CHAN qualifiers, when he could barely score from open play against the weakest Ghana team of all time in the 2022 WCQ playoffs….??! The man just couldnt assure himself he could face Benin and Rwanda with homebased players and not get anything less than 1 draw from both games
Stick your necks out for Eguavoen at your own risk. He himself cannot stick his own neck out for himself.
If we should fail to qualify for CHAN, Eguavoen should just honourably resign and take the next available flight to the US to go and play with his grandkids. They must be missing him by now.
Eguavoen can’t take Nigeria anywhere. If Nigeria wants to qualify for World Cup, Eguavoen need to leave. Its that simple