The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president believes the three-time African champions did well at the just-concluded 2021 Africa Cup of Nations
NFF President Amaju Pinnick has defended Nigeria’s performance at the 2021 AFCON, saying the players performed well.
The Super Eagles crashed out in the second round of the tournament following a 1-0 loss to Tunisia. It was a disappointing exit for Austin Eguavoen’s men after showing so much promise in the group stages.
Nigeria had won all three group games with a combined six goals scored and one conceded. The Super Eagles beat losing finalists Egypt in their opening match before further wins against Guinea-Bissau and Sudan.
They went into the game against Tunisia as the clear favourites as the Carthage Eagles had only qualified as one of the four best third-placed teams.
However, the Tunisians did not stick to the script as they secured a stunning 1-0 win. It was a loss that left many Nigerians disappointed, but Pinnick believes the team had a successful tournament.
The NFF president said this in a series of tweets on his official Twitter page.
He said: Good day Nigeria. First off, I would like to thank our magnificent group of players, technical team and backroom staff for their stellar work at the just concluded 33rd AFCON. We played that competition to win it, but sometimes, you also need a bit of luck.
After three wins …playing good football as well, we were unlucky in our round of 16 match. Nevertheless, it was a brilliant showing by our team & showed the level of work the coaching crew put in. That has also been recognized by the latest @FIFAcom rankings placing Nigeria as the 3rd best on the continent.
Meanwhile, Pinnick also congratulated the champions Senegal, who defeated Egypt on penalties to win their first AFCON title.
I think exit of Super Eagles from Afcon. in Cameroon cause of lack of defensive mentality and defensive descipline, that means Ndidi and Aribo and Aina couldn’t cover or press against Tunisian forward Almisekni who shot the ball from distance without any pressing and tackling by defensive players mentioned above or any player to tackle him; so Amuneke must enhance defensive side of S E ; the problem of SE has been finding for along time which has caused for beating SE or has made SE to exit from knock-out of Afcon. tournament or World Cup round 16; so technical committee must study this problem then make availed drug for this illness which has been affecting SE for along time.