Nigeria suffered an embarrassing heavy defeat to former European champions Portugal in an international friendly last week
Super Eagles legend Emmanuel Amokachi has taken a swipe at the Super Eagles following their disappointing 4-0 loss to Portugal in Lisbon on November 17.
Coached by Portuguese tactician Jose Peseiro, Nigeria succumbed to goals from Bruno Fernandes (brace), Gonçalo Ramos, and João Mário inside a sold-out 50,000-capacity Estádio José Alvalade.
It was the Super Eagles A’s heaviest defeat in over two decades. Not since a 5-1 loss to the Netherlands in a pre-World Cup friendly in 1998 has the Eagles lost by a four-goal margin.
Even more worryingly, it was Nigeria’s fourth defeat in six matches under head coach Jose Peseiro.
In an interview with Channels TV, former Everton favourite Amokachi expressed his displeasure with the manner of the Super Eagles’ loss to Portugal.
Amokachi believes the problem of the Nigerian national team can not be disconnected from the hiring of incompetent coaches and the deployment of dispassionate players.
And the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner insists the loss in Lisbon revealed that the Super Eagles do not deserve a spot at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Amokachi said, “When you look at the Portugal game, that tells you that we don’t even deserve to be there (World Cup).
“There are one, two, three different angles that you have to look at it, bringing in the right coach, bringing in the right players, and getting the right environment to play at.
“We always bring the wrong coaches to handle a country like Nigeria; we always bring the wrong players.”
Nigeria failed to qualify for Qatar 2022 after losing the final playoffs on away goal rule to Ghana in March.
The FIFA World Cup kicked off on Sunday, November 20, with Ecuador beating Qatar 2-0 in the tournament opener.
