Nigeria left to lick their wounds after Afcon ‘tragedy’

ABUJA: African champions Nigeria were reeling yesterday after they failed to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations to defend their title.

The Super Eagles finished a disappointing third in Group A on eight points despite a 2-2 draw against South Africa on Wednesday night in the southern town of Uyo.

The failure to qualify mirrored the disappointment when Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2012 tour- nament hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

The scorer of Nigeria’s two goals, Sone Aluko, said the whole team was devastated.

“I am disappointed, everybody is disappointed,” said the Hull City forward.

“We did not get the result we wanted and we now have to pick ourselves up as a team.”

Out-of-contract coach Stephen Keshi blamed his players for taking South Africa too lightly in a match they needed to win to qualify for the tournament finals, to be held in Equatorial Guinea.

“Maybe we took South Africa for granted and we paid dearly for this,” said the coach, who was only reinstated to his post last month after being sacked by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The NFF said in a statement that they would shoulder the blame but believed the country would bounce back from the setback.

“The NFF takes full responsibility for what has happened,” said the body’s president, Amaju Pinnick. “It is a tragedy for us to come so near and yet fail to reach the finals.” – Sapa-AFP