The former Nigeria defender has said only divine
intervention can see the Super Eagles qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of
Nations in Morocco
Ex-international Yisa Shofoluwe has ruled out the possibility of the Super Eagles qualifying for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations following their 1-0 defeat to Sudan on Saturday.
The reigning African champions are now at the base of Group A with just one point from three games in the qualifying series while South Africa lead with seven points, followed by Congo with six points and Sudan with three points.
According to the former Green Eagles defence trojan, Stephen Keshi’s men got it all wrong by not converting the chances that came their way. "We got the first half totally wrong and the moment they (Sudan) got their goal, they had more power and the Eagles did not do well to fight back,”.
"I was expecting our boys to play through the wings in a bid to unlock the defence of the hosts but we did not do that. They got busy trying to lob the ball into the backline of the Sudanese which proved futile.
"Aside from this, our boys fluffed many goal scoring opportunities and I don’t know why.
"I’m not sure of that (qualifying for Morocco 2015) and I don’t see that happening because other teams stand a better chance than we do. Except for divine intervention, Eagles should just forget about the Nations Cup."
He however concluded saying the players too deserve to be blamed instead of the barrage of criticism directed towards the technical crew alone.
"Personally, I won’t blame Keshi for the defeat because the players are the main actors. Our players wasted begging chances to score or is it Keshi’s duty to have converted those chances? Or was the Sudanese goal scored by their coach?
"The coach should not take the blame alone, but the players should too because they are professionals and when they fail to convert their chances, there is nothing the technical crew can do,” he concluded.
A win for Nigeria in the return leg against the Falcons of Jediane on Wednesday could raise a glimmer of hope on the Super Eagles chances of qualifying.
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