Nigeria’s 3-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau has left Mutiu Adepoju fearing the Super Eagles could turn their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign into a battle of calculators and permutations, Footynaija reports.
The Super Eagles collapsed in Bissau on Tuesday, September 29, four days after recovering from a goal down to beat Madagascar 2-1 in Uyo. Guinea-Bissau had already beaten co-hosts Tanzania 2-0 and now sit top of Group L with six points, while Nigeria have three.
With Tanzania already guaranteed a place at AFCON 2027 as co-hosts, only the highest-placed team among the other three nations will qualify from Group L. That makes Nigeria’s defeat particularly costly.
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“It was a very bad game, we didn’t play very well. It is not too good for us because at the end of the day, we will be looking for calculators to calculate this team wins which is not supposed to be,” Adepoju told ANS.
The former Super Eagles midfielder believes the problem goes beyond the absence of Victor Osimhen, who missed both qualifiers with a thigh injury.
“There are many factors but the attitude of the players? If the players are not putting everything possible on the field, even if the coach has a fault, the players know how they have been playing in their various clubs and what is at stake. I am not going to put the blame on one person but the team entirely,” he added.
Adepoju questioned the logic of blaming the absence Osimhen after Nigeria conceded three times.
“Osimhen is a striker, probably if they play and there are no mistakes in the defense. But we conceded three goals, is it Osimhen that is going to come and defend? The team entirely have fault not because somebody is not there.”
He added: “If Osimhen is there and the team is not playing well, if he doesn’t get the passes, how is he going to score? I would rather think of the whole team entirely. If one person is missing, there are other players that are there take up.”
Nigeria now face a qualification race in which another slip could make the permutations Adepoju fears unavoidable.
