Super Eagles’ interim coach, Augustine Eguavoen has cited a number of reasons which he believes were behind his team’s barren draw away to Rwanda on Tuesday, sports247.ng reports.
It was their second game of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers but, unlike last Saturday, when they slammed Benin Republic 3-0 in Uyo, the Eagles failed to score a single goal in Kigali.
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Eguavoen, who said after Tuesday’s game that his tenure with the Eagles has come to an end, faulted the referee for cancelling a first half effort that had been converted seemingly flawlessly by Ademola Lookman.
“Everybody in the world, in that stadium, knew it was a goal. Only one person thought otherwise, which was the referee.
“It’s quite unfortunate, but getting a draw far away from home, I don’t think it’s a bad result at all,” Eguavoen rationalised.
The Eagles’ former defender and captain added that Rwanda’s backline and goalkeeper also played key rules in scuppering Nigeria’s hope of getting back-to-back victories at the start of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
“Defensively, they were tight. They defended in numbers and put their body on the line, blocking all balls in front of the goal.
“Their goalkeeper was also man of the match on their side. Though he was also lucky that some of those balls were coming directly to him.
“Had it been that the shots went to an angle, it would have been a different story,” analysed the one fondly called ‘Cerezo’ during his heyday.
He, however, reasoned further that the Eagles gave a good account of themselves, in spite of their inability to put the ball in The Amavubi’s net.
‘Egu’ added with a tone of admiration: “It was an impressive performance by all standards.”
The experienced gaffer, though, also admitted that his players could not fulfil their pre-match target in Kigali, adding: “We came here with a gameplan to get maximum points, not a draw.
“We wanted all three points, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t get them.”
Eguavoen then analysed other factors that accounted for the goalless encounter in the recently refurbished Amahoro Stadium.
“The Rwandese respect us a lot, as we do them as well. That’s why it was a good game with lots of open play. They also pressed the ball very well in their half.
“The way we structured our board was to find gaps behind them and try to look for goals.
“It was an open play. We dominated a little bit, and then we created chances, but we could not score.
“I always tell the boys, ‘A goal gives you strength.’ When you score, you will open up more chances,” Augustine Eguavoen theorised.
The member of Nigeria’s AFCON winning team at Tunisia ’94, who also won bronze as coach of the side in 2006, concluded with a general assessment of his players, and admitted that they should have done better in terms of converting the few chances that they got.
“We had a couple of open chances against Rwanda that we could have buried. Even at that, we still got stuck in the game.
“In a general assessment, I will say I am impressed, because African football has really, really developed. That’s why the Rwandese were jubilating after the game.
“That means they felt they could have lost the game. The summary, though, is … we lost a couple of chances, didn’t get any clear cut chances, and we scored a goal that was disallowed,” Eguavoen rounded off.
Rwanda now has two points from two matches.
