Minister of Sports Development, Sen. John Owan Enoh, has revealed that Bola Tinubu said he was not impressed with the performance of the Super Eagles in their final Africa Cup of Nations Group A clash against Guinea-Bissau on Monday.
The minister disclosed this while speaking with the national team players and coaches via a Zoom meeting on Wednesday ahead of Nigeria’s round of 16 clash with Cameroon.
Recall that Nigeria defeated Guinea-Bissau 1-0 and finished in second position in Group A behind leaders Equatorial Guinea.
“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,” Enoh said.
“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.
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“I remembered that in 2022 in Cameroon, at the Group stages, Egypt as a country barely 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 need 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.”