From UDO EKANEM, Uyo
The interim coach of the Super Eagles, Augustine Eguavoen, elated at his team’s superlative performance in the 3-0 drubbing of the Benin Republic side yesterday, Saturday September 7 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State, capital, has boasted that with the quality of players on the Super Eagles line-up, Nigeria can beat any other team in the world.
Speaking after the spanking of the Cheetahs of Benin Republic 3-0 in a 2025 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) qualifier played in Uyo yesterday, Eguavoen said: “We have quality players to beat any team, but we respect (other) teams anyway. Any coach can come in and do the same job with the Super Eagles.”
“It is a mindset, we have the potential and how you perceive your opponent, given the information about them and then go out and do the job,” he observed..
Eguavoen attributed the victory to the formation adopted by the technical crew, noting, however, that any formation could be used to ensure that the team is successful.
“We can decide to use any system. It is something we discussed and I slept over it. I know with the calibre of players that we have, we can decide to play any formation.
“Football is about a win, a loss or a draw, I don’t believe we have a poor result,” he said.
“But it has to do with belief, what is at stake and what you want to achieve.
“Psychologically as a group, we are agreed as to where we are and where we are going to be. We will definitely achieve it,” Eguavoen said.
He described the performance of the team’s defenceline in the match as superb.
The coach said that asking six players to warm up for the second half was to buy time, adding that there was no need to rush to change.
He also commended the Benin Republic side as a good team who came with a good game plan but enthused that the better side, the Super Eagles triumphed at the end of the day.
It would be recalled that Eguavoen was appointed interim coach after the deal between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and German tactician Bruno Labbadia fell through.
