Super Eagles’ interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen is still taking stock of his side’s 3-0 spanking of Benin Republic on Saturday but refrained from saying the visitors did not play well.
Rather than submit that The Cheetahs were not good enough during the opening game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Uyo, the ex-defender fondly called ‘Cerezo’ said they surprised him with their quality of play.
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During the post-match press conference witnessed by sports247.ng, he added that Saturday’s victory was not due to any special tactical formation he employed, nor does it mean he is better than the team’s previous coach.
“Formation is just about information,” Eguavoen began, “If you have players of quality, you can decide to play with any system.
“I know that we can choose to play any formation with this high calibre of players. Football is one of three things … you win, you lose or you draw.
“I am not going to say the former coach didn’t do a good job. It has to do with belief, what is at stake, what you have in mind and what you want to achieve.”
Eguavoen, who is in his fourth tenure as head coach of the Super Eagles, concluded with a verdict that he did not do anything special, which led to Nigeria’s stunning victory on Saturday.
“With all due respect to our opponent, anybody can come on board and put this team in shape. It’s all about the mindset and how you use your potential.
“The Benin Republic is a good team, and they surprised me. I saw them in Abidjan and, today, they came with a good gameplan,” Egu stated.
Nonetheless, the former defender-turned-gaffer conceded that his decision to make five maximum changes in the second half turned the game fully in Nigeria’s favour.
“At some point in the match, we knew that we must be able to recognise weaknesses in our team and the opponent, then make the right changes.
“At some point, we had to make our substitutions, and we followed the gameplan. We had to use every opportunity that we had,” Eguavoen explained.
However, the vastly experienced tactician, who is also currently the technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), stopped short of revealing his plan for Tuesday’s match away to Rwanda in Kigali.
