AGAINST the backdrop of
criticism that greeted Super Eagles of Nigeria's 2-2 draw against Lone Star of
Liberia in a first leg AFCON 2013 qualifier, ex international, Kanu Nwankwo
believes the team did well in securing the result.
The Nigerian survived the
onslaught of the Liberians to pull the draw in the match played in Monrovia
last weekend, a result that did not go down well with majority of soccer lovers
in the country who had expected the Eagles to beat the Lone Star in that
encounter.
After coming from a goal
down to lead 2-1, the Eagles disappointedly surrendered the lead, conceeding a
66th minute equalizer to enable the Liberians share the spoil.
However, Kanu in his own
opinion described the draw as a good one for the Nigerians, saying that its has
put the team in a vantage position to qualify for South Africa 2013.
"It is a good result
for us. "It is never easy to go away from home and win. And the players
did their best.
"At least we have the
opportunity to complete the job when they (Liberians) come for the second leg
in Calabar next month." said the former Arsenal of England striker who is
now Nigeria's football ambassador.
He expressed optimism that
Nigerians would not be subjected to another traumatic experience as witnessed
when the Eagles were forced to a 2--2 draw by Guinea in Abuja in a decisive qualifier for
the last edtion of the competition. The result which culminated in Nigeria's failure to qualify for
the Nations Cup hosted jointly by Gabon and Equitorial Guinea led to the sack of coach
Samson Siasia.
It will be noted that Super
Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi was among those who admitted that the team's
performance in Monrovia was not convincing enough.
The winner of the two-legged
tie qualifies for next year's African Nations Cup in South Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment