World Cup Playoff: Eguaveon vows to remain focused despite pressure
In the build to the match, Eguavoen has been seriously criticized by sports journalists and football fans for inviting players that are past their prime or are injured for the must-win match
Super Eagles Interim Technical Director Augustine Eguaveon has promised to remain focused and strong despite the intense pressure of leading the Super Eagles.
Appointed shortly before the Afcon 2021 in Cameroon where he failed to progress beyond the second round.
Eguavoen biggest hurdle is beating Ghana to the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying ticket.
The must-win match is slated for Kumasi and Abuja on March 25 and March 29 respectively.
In the build to the match, Eguavoen has been seriously criticized by sports journalists and football fans for inviting players that are past their prime or are injured for the must-win match.
He admitted in an interview that leading the Super Eagles is very tough “It’s very very tough. Very tough because we are humans and are very demanding," Eguavoen told Elegbete TV.
“And we are a football nation which is normal. We don’t want to settle for less. We always want to go for the best and by so doing, we want to win every trophy available.
“To be saddled with that responsibility I think is a very tough one. There’ll be critics everywhere, left, right and centre definitely but the ability to be able to hold on and shed most things away and remain focused determines a lot.
“We will remain focused but our only appeal to people is to not discourage us but always encourage and support because things like this, if a person isn’t strong, can throw him off guard but I am focused and I know I have a lot of fans out there. Thumbs up to them. I love everybody and we’ll celebrate together after the two-legged games."
But many Nigerians don’t share Eguavoen’s optimism they believed his open admission of tweaking team to satisfy board members of NFF is a sign of his inability to lead Super Eagles to promise land.
