Eguavoen disagrees with fans over Super Eagles striker
Despite being rated below average by most fans, the coach says the gangling striker did well against Guinea-Bissau
Interim Super Eagles gaffer, Augustine Eguavoen believes UD Almeria striker, Sadiq Umar will come good for the national team despite his recent shortcomings in front of goal.
Speaking after Nigeria's 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau at the Roumde Adjia stadium Wednesday night, Eguavoen admitted that the former Glasgow Rangers forward is struggling to find his feet in the competition despite his long years of sojourning in Europe, but assured that the young striker will soon come of age.
Sadiq committed some elementary errors and struggled to convert begging chances in the first half of the match, but he eventually made up for his misses by scoring the opener from a tap-in.
He was immediately substituted by coach Eguavoen who had already made up his mind to replace the lanky striker before the goal came.
Cerezo revealed that he never gave up on the striker but kept talking to him on how best to unleash his potential on goalkeepers, adding that the striker may have been swallowed by the pressure inherent in a top competition like the AFCON
" I kept talking to him because he's a player who has played for Roma, now he's in Spain scoring goals and the first two games he came in he couldn't find his feet for whatever reason because he's just coming into a big tournament, maybe it was too big, he said.
Eguavoen then thumped the striker for his positive response after he failed to rise to the big occasion against Egypt and Sudan.
"However, I think he's performed well and we just wanted to start him today (Wednesday) to see how he'll react not to come in and I think he did very well."
