President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, said he cried after Sierra Leone scored their fourth goal to level the game at 4-4 after the Super Eagles squandered a four-goal in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin on Friday.
Pinnick, who was speaking with the Eagles team in their dressing room after the game, said the draw was the worst result under him as the president of the NFF.
He said the NFF made everything available to ensure the team succeeded in the game.
He also accused the Eagles of losing the spirit of competition in their midst and said he would be meeting with the technical crew to ensure that some players not needed in the team are left out.
The NFF boss, however, encouraged the players to see the draw as a momentary setback and make amends when both teams meet at the Siaka Stevens Stadium, Freetown on Tuesday.
“I will say the way the thing is in my heart and the heart of so many Nigerians. The truth is that we can’t be leading 4-0 to Sierra Leone and concede four goals for no reason, there is no reason. Since I became the president of NFF, this is the worst result I have seen in my life, in these few days, I wonder how I’m going to sleep.
“It’s not because of losing, it’s not because we won’t qualify for the Nations Cup, it’s certainly because this is towards the end of the year, you know the passion Nigerians have for this game,” Pinnick said.
He added, “It’s football, definitely, it’s football, it can go either way, but what happened to us? Were we complacent? Were we just so comfortable that we were leading 4-0 and all of a sudden, the goals started coming in? At the end of the day, nobody is going to call your name everybody is the coach and Amaju Pinnick (they’ll call), that is the truth. But unfortunately, he (Gernot Rohr) was not on the pitch, I wasn’t the one on the pitch. I saw the reaction of your captain.
“After they scored the fourth goal, I shed tears for the first time in a long time.”
“The beauty about falling down is the resurgence to bounce back, so, bounce back. What you’ve done to them is that you’ve given them the confidence that Nigeria is beatable. Joseph (Yobo) would have wished he was one of the defenders and can go into the pitch to defend this last game, the same thing.
“We must re-engineer this team, we must go to Freetown and beat them by those four goals so that we would know truly that the Eagles has landed,” he challenged the team.
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