Augustine Eguavoen A Bungled Opportunity for Home-grown Coaches ?

When erstwhile Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr was sacked and Augustine Eguavoen appointed as the team’s interim coach to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, it was seen as victory for advocates of local coaches for our national teams. After three victories in the group stages, the idea of making Eguavoen’s job permanent was even gaining traction. However, against a Coronavirus-depleted Tunisia side in the Round of 16, the former international showed how tactically deficient he could be, something even his Tunisian counterpart noted. Kunle Adewale looks at how the Technical Director at the Nigeria Football Federation may have bungled a good cause for local coaches

That the Super Eagles did not have the best of preparations for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations would be an understatement. As if sacking and appointing a new coach three weeks to the African showpiece was not enough, some of the team’s best legs were missing mostly due to their foreign clubs’ refusal to release them for the competition.

As a result, not much was expected from Nigeria in Cameroon. But after an impressive outing against seven-time champions and one of the tournament’s favourites, Egypt, and being the only country to amass all nine points at stake in the group stages the Super Eagles were then beginning to look like favourites and rightly so.

Even sacked Rohr could not hide his conviction that Eguavoen’s men could go all the way.

Rohr said he was not surprised by the performance of the Super Eagles in Cameroon, branding the Eguavoen tutored side the most efficient at AFCON 2021.

“It is for me the favorite after the group stage. This is the team with the most legs, the most efficient. The team has been built to win for five years,” Rohr told Ouest France.

“They know each other very well. It makes me happy to see them fulfill the contract even if they have to be wary of direct elimination matches, it’s completely different.

“I think they can handle the pressure. It’s still a young team but it has maturity. Some have made the World Cup in Russia. Many have collected an experience which must serve them now.”

It was however not to be as Eguavoen showed how naive and tactically deficient he could be when the stakes are high.
The Carthage Eagles had only qualified as one of the four best third-placed teams, but they played a perfect tactical game to dump their opponents out of the competition, courtesy of a second-half strike from Youssef Msakni.

It was a result no one, especially Nigerians, the team and the fans are still reeling from the loss, but with time, the hurt will heal.

And it indeed happened last Sunday night as Eguavoen was tactically found wanting. In the group stages, Nigeria’s attacking threat came from the wings, especially from the lively Moses Simon.

Nigeria’s wide players were blunted by Tunisia and nullified Nigeria’s press as the Cathage Eagles overloaded the middle. It was clear the North Africans had done their homework.

“We know Nigeria are very strong and very fast in the wings,” assistant coach Jalel Kadri said at the post-match press conference. “Today we came up with tactics to put pressure on the Nigerian wingers because they are very dangerous. And we also know they have difficulties when they lose the ball.”

Eguavoen approached the game with the same style, but he did not know that Tunisia had done their homework, and they found a way to contain Simon and Chukwueze by doubling up on them
It meant Nigeria struggled to create chances, while they could not go through the middle due to the Tunisian’s low block.

The double-pivot midfield pairing of Wilfred Aribo and Wilfred Ndidi did not help and made them vulnerable on the break.

Tunisia went into the game hoping to get a smash and grab win, which was what exactly happened. When Msakni scored the goal, it was the first time Nigeria conceded first and in open play in the competition, putting Eguavoen’s tactical acumen to the test.

However, despite making a host of changes, Nigeria still struggled to create clear chances, although Alex Iwobi’s dismissal did not help them.

At the end of the day, it was clear that Eguavoen had been outsmarted by a better manager.

Eguavoen has indeed admitted that he was wrong to leave Chidera Ejuke out of the squad that lost to Tunisia in the second round of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Although Eguavoen made a couple of changes from the bench, he could not bring on Ejuke, who was one of the creative players in the squad and he admitted it was a mistake to leave him out as he could have solved Nigeria’s problems in the attacking third.

“I think it was a mistake on my part not dressing Chidera Ejuke for the game against Tunisia,” Eguavoen said after the game.

“I take responsibility for whatever that happened at the Round of 16,” he added.

The Tunisian coach boasted after the game that the Eagles of Carthage nullified the threat of the Nigerian team by targeting their wingers, especially Simon.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Eguavoen said: “When you talk about the Tunisian coach talking about the team being predictable, that’s not 100 per cent correct.

“Our wing play is our strength but the only thing is that we have to vary it, we tried to play through the middle which means open up the field and play from the sides, then the ball must come in Awoniyi’s feet or Iheanacho’s feet but it wasn’t coming.

“Why? Because they had a lot of midfield players who tried to block the line of pass.

“We are not a team who want to play long ones behind defenders who possess the ball very well.”

With the obvious tactical deficiency Eguaveon showed at the 2021 AFCON, it remains to be seen if a local coach would ever get another opportunity at managing the Nigeria’s senior national team again.