President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not impressed with the Super Eagles team performance at the group stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire alnsports.com reports.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria having qualified for the second round of the competition after finishing second behind Equatorial Guinea in Group A.
President Tinubu’s message was sent to the players by the Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh in a zoom meeting with the players on Wednesday.
The minister said the President was not impressed by the team’s performance against Guinea-Bissau in their last group match.
Enoh said: “One of the main reasons that made me have this call with you is the chance I had meeting with Mr President yesterday, I went to the Villa for something else and the president cornered me and said, ‘we managed to qualify [for the Round of 16].’ I said your Excellency, that is how we will be going until we win the tournament.
And he said, ‘tell our players I wasn’t too impressed in our last match but I know that now that they are off the Group stages, I know they are going to impress me more and more.’ That is what the president told me,”
“The president is actually watching your matches and he is urging you and he knows that there was a lot of consciousness at the Group stages and he knows that from the Round of 16 that they [Super Eagles] are going to be more and more impressive”, he said.
The minister has urged the Super Eagles to do all their possible best to deliver the Afcon23 trophy to the people.
“I remembered that in 2022 in Cameroon, at the Group stages, Egypt as a country struggled to qualify but that same Egypt went ahead to go and play the finals. I remembered that same Egypt, we won them in the Group stage. I remembered that superlative goal scored by Kelechi Iheanacho”.
“I also want to communicate to you the mood back home in the country, Every Nigerian is rooting for you and believing you are going to do it again like the slogan of the NFF.”
The Super Eagles will lock-horns with the Indomitable lions of Cameroon on Saturday in the quarter finals of the competition by 9pm.
