By Giwa SHILE
It was a mixed grill as Nigerians attending the World Cup in Russia reacted to the elimination of the Super Eagles from the ongoing World Cup.
TBI Africa reports that the Super Eagles on Tuesday lost a crucial Group D match 1-2 to Argentina at St. Petersburg Stadium, resulting in their exit.
Idowu Onatuga said it was the worst thing that could happen to the Super Eagles inspite of the high expectations from Nigerians.
“The 1-2 defeat of the Eagles by Argentina was a painful one and a disappointment to most Nigerians who wanted their team to advance to the next stage,” he said.
He, however, said that the players tried their best even though it was not good enough to see Nigeria progress in the competition.
The Football Association (FA) Secretary in Nasarawa, Abdulami Babarabi, who made the trip to Russia, said that Nigeria’s exit from the game “ was all about football where you win some, lose some.’’
“The match against Argentina that made us to exit from the World Cup has come and gone, but the lessons are there to learn from. Why is it always Argentina that we always lose to at crucial moments? We must find a solution to this in future,” he added.
A former FA Secretary in Delta, Friday Onatoja, however, said he was indifferent about the outcome of the match, insisting “there were issues and lack of enough mobilisation for the Eagles.”
Ade Ojekere, Group Sports Editor of The Nation, who covered the match, said the ouster notwithstanding, the football authorities should keep the team for the future.
“Nigeria should keep the players, organise quality friendlies for them ahead of the next Nations Cup for them to be stronger in the future,” he said.
He warned that it would be counter -productive for the country to disband the team, saying the players were young and disciplined.
TBI Africa reports that the Technical Adviser of the team, Gernor Rohr, had said at after the game that he would be staying back to work with the players.
