AFCON 2017: Nigeria Fails to Qualify

Super-Eagles-players after the loss to the Pharaoh Boys

Nigeria’s Super Eagles would not be competing in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be hosted by Gabon as the players succumb to 1 – 0 loss to the Pharaohs of Egypt on Tuesday. The match was played in Egypt.

The Egyptians edged out its Nigeria counterpart from the tournament having grabbed a controversial last minute goal in the first leg played in Kaduna, Nigeria last Friday. The match ended in 1 – 1 draw.

Yesterday’s victory gave the Pharaohs a 5-point atop Group G.

Egypt’s 19-year-old Ramadan Sobhy scored the loan goal of the match in the 64th minute, securing the Pharaohs a spot in the 2017 edition of AFCON after missing the last three contests.

The Super Eagles, who failed to qualify for the 2015 edition, had their position in Group G impacted after Chad dropped out of the tournament.

Chad’s withdrawal gave Group G an uneven number of teams (Nigeria, Egypt, and Tanzania), allowing only one team to advance as the results of all the matches against Chad were nullified. The Super Eagles had defeated Chad 2-0.

After Tuesday’s match, Egypt stands on top of the Group G standings with 7 points. Nigeria trails with 2 points, while Tanzania sits in last with 1 point.

The Super Eagles said their “focus is to get these setbacks behind us and quickly regroup for the fast-approaching 2018 World Cup qualifiers starting in October”.

Interim coach Samson Siasia, who took over after Sunday Oliseh’s shock resignation a month ago, was more matter of fact. “We inherited a broken bridge which we couldn’t fix. We only amended it,” he said.

Garba Lawal said, “Not qualifying for the biggest tournament in Africa, the Nations Cup, is a disaster on its own and the World Cup qualifiers will be a lot tougher. “It is very disturbing because there are more questions than answers, like who is our next coach and what do we need to do to improve the current team?”
Nigeria’s run of poor results and another failure to qualify for a major tournament heaps pressure on the executive committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to step down, he added.

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