January 20, (THEWILL) – Augustine Eguavoen, Super Eagles’ caretaker coach, has identified a critical shortcoming that the team must address in order to improve their chances of winning the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Despite a comfortable 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau in Garoua on Wednesday, Eguavoen remains unimpressed with the Eagles’ offence, particularly in finishing off created opportunities.
The 56-year-old strategist benched attacking trio Taiwo Awoniyi, Samuel Chukwueze, and Joe Aribo and merely brought in Moses Simon off the bench.
Despite this, Nigeria dominated Guinea-Bissau, possessing the ball for more than 60% of the time and launching ten shots, six of which were on target. The Eagles could have scored one or two more goals against the Bissau Wild Dogs if they had been more effective in attack.
The Super Eagles finished the group stage with six goals in three games, as THEWILL previously reported. Despite this, Eguavoen bemoaned the team’s inability to capitalise on its opportunities and hoped that they will do better in the knockout stages, where they would face tougher opponents.
In a post-match interview, Eguavoen made this observation clear: “We always create chances. The problem is finishing them off. That is what we have to keep working on as we go further.”
Nigeria became the first team in Cameroon to win all three of its group stage matches with the victory over Guinea-Bissau.
On Sunday, January 23, the Super Eagles will play the third-placed club from Group E or F in a round-of-16 match.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
