Nigeria interim coach Augustine Eguavoen insists yesterday’s shock defeat at home to Rwanda will have no bearing on their World Cup clash in March.
With AFCON qualification already secured, Eguavoen made changes to his line-up with the likes of Victor Osimhen left out of the starting XI.
Those hoping to impress failed the audition, though, as Rwanda came from a goal down to win 2-1 in Uyo.
Substitute Samuel Chukwueze gave the home side the lead just before the hour mark but goals from Ange Mutsinzi and Innocent Nshuti turned the game around.
We are disappointed to have ended our great run in the Afcon 2025 qualifiers with a home loss. We will bounce back. Thank you for all your support through the qualifiers and see you in Morocxo. #soarsupereagles pic.twitter.com/XkAGqwTNr9
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) November 18, 2024
The teams meet again in four months’ time in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup but Eguavoen dismissed the notion the result had given Rwanda a psychological edge.
He said: “This won’t affect [Nigeria for the World Cup qualifiers].
“We have learnt a hard lesson, we will evaluate and have the strategies to face them.”
We were below standard – Eguavoen
Eguavoen admitted his team were poor on the day and deserved little from the game, adding: “We were below standard. And I feel very sad. This result was not what we planned for. We scored and were pushing for a second goal, but, quite against the run of play, we conceded. I tried to change the formation, but it didn’t work.
“These things happen on certain days, and today was one of those days. When we conceded the second goal, I made changes by introducing two strikers, yet it still didn’t work.”
Struggling strikers
Strikers Kelechi Iheanacho and Victor Boniface both struggled to make an impact but Eguavoen backed them to come good.
On Sevilla’s Iheanacho, he said: “He’s an asset, but he has not been living up to expectations, he needed some encouragement.
“I spoke to him personally. There was pressure on him, but he couldn’t handle it.”
On Bayer Leverkusen star Boniface, he added: “He will remain part of the squad.
“We know what he is capable of doing, but it hasn’t worked with the Super Eagles.”