Former Nigeria international Waidi Akanni has blamed the Super Eagles’ semi-final defeat to Morocco on a lack of preparation for a possible penalty shootout.
Nigeria crashed out of the competition on Thursday night after losing 4–2 on penalties to the Atlas Lions following a tense 120 minutes of football in Rabat that ended goalless.
Morocco were near-perfect from the spot, converting four of their five penalties, while the Super Eagles could only score two from four attempts. Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi both missed their spot kicks for Nigeria.
Reacting to the outcome, Akanni said the Super Eagles did not anticipate the match going the distance and failed to adequately prepare for penalties.
“Lack of preparedness cost the Super Eagles the penalty shootout against Morocco,” Akanni told Afrosports. “They didn’t envisage the game going into penalties. Again, this is all football, and there is nothing the players can do about it.”
Following the defeat, Nigeria will now face Egypt’s Pharaohs in the third-place playoff scheduled for Saturday.
Comments