Super Eagles Handler Eguavoen Breaks Silence, Apportions Blames As Tunisia Knock Nigeria Out of AFCON 2021

Super Eagles Handler Eguavoen Breaks Silence, Apportions Blames As Tunisia Knock Nigeria Out of AFCON 2021

Babajide Orevba
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:54 PM
In this article:
CAF Africa Cup of Nations logo
CAF AFCON
Africa
  • Augustine Eguavoen is not impressed with Senegalese referee, Maguette Ndiaye, who officiated Nigeria vs Tunisia game
  • The Carthage Eagles claimed a 1-0 victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria who have crashed out of the AFCON 2021 tournament
  • Eguavoen blames the match referee as he stated that the officiating was not fair, disagreeing with the red card issued to Alex Iwobi

The Super Eagles interim coach Augustine Eguavoen has blamed the match officials for Nigeria’s exit at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, Correct Score reports.

Carthage Eagles put up a strong performance to beat the tournament favourites as Youssef Msakni’s 46th-minute strike was enough to hand the North Africans victory.

At the end of the encounter, Coach Eguavoen criticised the performance of centre referee from Senegal, Maguette Ndiaye, as Nigeria crashed out of the tournament.

Augustine Eguavoen
Augustine Eguavoen not impressed as Nigeria crash out of AFCON 2021. Photo: Daniel Beloumou Olomo
Source: Getty Images

After winning all their group games, Nigeria lost 1-0 to the Tunisian side that qualified as one of the best losers from the preliminary rounds.

Why Eguavoen is not impressed

But the goal was not just the major talking point as Alex Iwobi was also sent off barely minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The Everton of England man was initially handed a yellow card, but following a VAR review of the incident, the referee brandished a straight red for the former Arsenal man, which infuriated Eguavoen after the end of the match.

Eguavoen told Modo as per Soccernet:

“Iwobi’s red card, I don’t think it was. It was the first foul, and it wasn’t intentional, but we have to look at the VAR later and see.
“However, first offence, I don’t think it was a red card. It wasn’t dangerous play. The boys fought, officiating wasn’t fair.
“And then right in his face, I can see one of the most gentlemen in the team, Wilfred Ndidi, got marched and right in the face of the referee, Ndidi complained.”

Angry fans blast Eguavoen

Meanwhile, a video has emerged on Twitter where coach Augustine Eguavoen was spotted being insulted by some Nigerian football fans after the 1-0 AFCON 2021 defeat to Tunisia.

And after the match, some fans were seen raining insults at Augustine Eguavoen because of the defeat to Tunisia which they described as a painful one.

Ghanaians troll Nigerians on social media

Sports Brief earlier reported that Ghanaians are celebrating the elimination of Nigeria from the Africa Cup of Nations after their last 16 defeat to Tunisia at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Fans of the Black Stars took to Twitter to troll their Nigerian bothers, as they whet the appetite for the crucial World Cup qualifier in March this year.

Although Nigeria had a hundred percent record from the group stages, they fell short in the last 16 with Everton winger Alex Iwobi seeing a red card in the game.

Authors
Babajide Orevba photo
Babajide Orevba
Babajide Orevba is a CAF accredited Nigerian journalist and HOD of the Local Desk with over 10 years of experience in media landscape.He studied NCE Political Science/Social Studies, AOCOED.
Tags
Nigeria