Former Nigerian captain,
Austin Jay-Jay Okocha, blames the lack of experience of the young Super Eagles players for their early exit from the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Nigeria recorded her fifth loss against an Argentine side at the World Cup after a late goal from Marcos Rojo ousted the Super Eagles from the competition.
Guest analyst on
SuperSport, Okocha
, said the Super Eagles were visibly very tensed in the first half, however in the second half they regained their stand and begun playing well, with a goal from by Victor Moses. However, they failed to close in on very clear cut chances and gave the Argentines a lot of breathing room to score the winner.
“(Francis) Uzoho kept us in the game with the saves he made in the second half. We panicked in the first half but the players fought back in the second… It was going to be tough for us and it lived up to that and it went to the last three minutes, but I think we have to look at the bigger picture. For most of these players it was the first time.
“The penalty was a gift from Mascherano but then I thought we started the second half better. We got ourselves in better places. It was a fantastic penalty from Moses but I think we should have put Argentina under more pressure.
“There was a foul on (Kelechi) Iheanacho in the first half but it was not awarded because nobody appealed to the referee. They didn’t put the referee under pressure. The defender raised his foot too high to clear the ball and hit Iheanacho on the head. For the second one, it was unfortunate that the referee didn’t award it despite consulting the VAR and Rojo got away with that one.”
— Okocha
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This article was first published on 29th June 2018
achem
Achem Samuel is a writer and a musician, he is passionate about God and also an ardent fan of tech, sports and music.
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