Eguavoen steps down as Super Eagles’ interim coach

In the aftermath of the defeat suffered by the Super Eagles, Sunday night, to Tunisia which saw Nigeria crash out of the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition, in Cameroon, Augustine Eguavoen has announced stepping down from his position as interim coach of national team.

Nigeria lost to Tunisia 0:1 in one of the quarter final matches despite coming in as favourites to win the game, as well as, the tournament, after finishing top of Group D with the maximum 9 points.

However, a 47^thminute goal conceded and further compounded by the sending off of Alex Iwobi confirmed Nigeria’s exit from the competition.

Nigeria lost to a Tunisia team slowly recovering from multiple cases of Covid-19 which hit the team’s camp during the competition.

Speaking during a post match conference, Sunday, Eguavoen who also defended the red carded Alex Iwobi, said he was now returning to the Nigeria Football Federal (NFF) Technical Committee from where he was seconded to handle the Super Eagles after the sacking of the German, Gernot Rohr.

“What happens next is that I’m the interim coach and Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

“I will go back to my position and allow the NFF (to) make a decision on the way forward,” Eguavoen said after the match.

Eguavoen stepped in after Gernot Rohr was sacked last month. However, the NFF announced Jose Peseiro as the new permanent coach before the AFCON kicked off.

On the red card incident, Eguavoen insisted that the midfielder did not deserve it, as his tackle deemed to be dangerous by the referee, was not intentional, and also because it was his first offence.

Alex Iwobi was shown a straight red card in the 64th minute, after the referee upgraded his yellow card to a red one following a VAR Review for a bad tackle.

According to him, Wilfred Ndidi was stamped on by a Tunisian player right in front of the referee but he did not call a foul even though the Nigerian midfielder complained.

Eguavoen who congratulated Tunisia for qualifying for the quarter finals, added the Super Eagles did their best even though they were knocked out by The Eagles of Carthage.

On his part, Tunisia coach, Mondher Kebaier explained how his boys stopped Nigeria from progressing to the quarter-finals in the ongoing 2021 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, following their impressive performance against Super Eagles

During a post-match conference, the coach confirmed that they worked on the Nigeria wingers because they knew how dangerous they could be.

“Today we came up with tactics to put pressure on the Nigerian wingers because they are very dangerous. And we also know they have difficulties when they lose the ball,” he said.

Tunisia will now play against Burkina Faso in the quarter-final as Super Eagles return home.