- The Super Eagles of Nigeria were defeated 2-0 by South Africa at the 2019 AFCON Qualifiers on Saturday, June 10
- The Eagles came into the mouthwatering clash with so much confidence, but their wings were clipped by Bafana Bafana
- Former Nigeria U17 and U20 coach John Obuh lamented that the Eagles took their opponents for granted
John Obuh, a former Nigerian U17 and U20 coach has reacted to Nigeria's 2-0 embarrassing home loss to South Africa.
Nigeria suffered a huge setback as they were defeated by Bafana Bafana in the opening game of the 2019 AFCON Qualifiers on June 10, 2017, at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo.
The Eagles came into the mouthwatering clash with so much confidence as they had not lost a competitive game against the visitors, but their wings were clipped by the South African national team.
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The Nigerian national team are on the verge of missing out on the third successive AFCON tournament in a row after winning the competition in 2013.
John Obuh.
NAIJ.com had an exclusive interview with former Nigeria Golden Eaglets coach John Obuh as he talked about the reason Super Eagles lost to Bafana Bafana at home.
The former U-17 coach who led the Golden Eaglets to the 2009 World Cup final has claimed the main reason why the Eagles lost was due to their overconfidence as they took many things for granted prior to the crucial encounter in Uyo.
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Speaking to NAIJ.com, the Kwara United boss said: "We feel we are already there and that is what makes us have setbacks like this".
"Nigeria lost to South Africa not because we are supposed to lose to them, but because we took a lot of things for granted"
John Obuh.
"We feel we can override everybody in Africa, but it is not always like that".
"What we don't know is that when it comes to Nigeria, some countries work very hard to play against us and when we don't do the same, these are the kind of surprises that we would see," he added.
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The former Enugu Rangers tactician stated that it will be unfair to blame anyone for the loss as it is a general problem.
Obuh also admitted that we have great players like Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi, but "we should consider that most of them are not deeply involved in their various clubs which is a big deal as we rely on them too much."
Super Eagles team.
However, the former Flying Eagles manager believes Nigeria can still bounce back to qualify for the 2019 AFCON tournament as long as the team continue to do the right thing.
He also admitted that some of the old players like Vincent Enyeama, Emmanuel Emenike and Odion Ighalo needs to be invited back to the Super Eagles team to ensure balance in the squad between the old players and the new ones as there are no enemies in football.
The Eagles are currently third on AFCON Qualifier Group E table following the defeat to Bafana Bafana with five games to go. Libya lead the pack following their 5-1 trouncing of Seychelles. South Africa are second, both on 3 points each.
Meanwhile, you can see NAIJ.com's video of the Super Eagles training ahead of the World Cup qualifiers;