AFCON: Pres. Tinubu says unimpressed with Super Eagles’ performance

President Bola Tinubu has expressed his displeasure over the performance of the Super Eagles in their last group game against Guinea-Bissau.

The Minister of Sports Development, Sen. John Owan Enoh, conveyed Tinubu’s message to the team via a Zoom meeting late Wednesday evening.

Persecondnews reports that the Nigerian team barely tested Jonas Mendes, the goalkeeper of the Wild Dogs of Guinea-Bissau, in the encounter with the Super Eagles, registering no shot on target in 90 minutes.

The only goal of the tie came through the boot of Opa Sangante, who blasted the ball into his own net to give the Super Eagles the lead.

Despite going into the tournament with the most informed striking force on the continent, the Super Eagles struggled to score goals.

Jose Peseiro’s team in the last three games of the Africa Cup of Nations has scored three goals and conceded just one.

Enoh said: “One of the main reasons that made me have this call with you is the chance I had meeting with Mr. President yesterday. I went to the villa for something else, and the president cornered me and said, ‘We managed to qualify [for the Round of 16].

’”I said, Your Excellency, that is how we will be going until we win the tournament. And he said, ‘Tell our players I wasn’t too impressed in our last match, but I know that now that they are off the group stages, I know they are going to impress me more and more.’ That is what the president told me.

“The president is actually watching your matches, and he is urging you, and he knows that there was a lot of consciousness at the group stages, and he knows that from the Round of 16, they [the Super Eagles] are going to be more and more impressive.

“I remembered that in 2022 in Cameroon, at the group stages, Egypt as a country barely struggled to qualify, but that same Egypt went ahead to go and play the finals.

“I remembered that same Egypt; we won them in the group stage. I remembered that superlative goal scored by [Kelechi] Iheanacho. I also need to communicate to you the mood back home in the country. Every Nigerian is rooting for you and believing you are going to do it again, like the slogan of the NFF.”

Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa, who spoke for the team, urged the president to come over to Ivory Coast and cheer the team from the stands.

He said: “We have a message that we are going to send to you [Enoh] to the President.

“We don’t want him to watch the game on TV anymore; we want him over here [Ivory Coast] to come and cheer us together. So this is our own message to the President.”