Enugu Football enthusiasts on Wednesday expressed fear over the expectations of Nigerians from the Super Eagles as the 2018 World cup begins June 14.
The enthusiasm who spoke in Enugu, said that the Super Eagles have not shown the zeal that they showed during the qualifying stage.
Anistar Izuikem, a Football Administrator and Coach of FC Star Plus of Ngwo, Enugu said that the players outplayed Czech Republic but failed to score.
He expressed worries over the poor finishing of the Eagles strikers and the goalkeepers.
“Eagles did well, dominated the game but failed to convert their chances. Their opponent utilised one of their best chances.
“Football is not all about possession but about scoring because the three points cannot be awarded to a team with possession.
“This is the fourth straight matches played by the Eagles without victory,’’ he said.
Rangers’ Media Officer, Norbert Okolie, believed that the Eagles did not give their all in the match knowing fully well that the World Cup is around the corner.
“We may be wrong to judge the Eagles with friendly matches towards the World Cup but they still have to work on their strikers shooting accuracy.
“Eagles have nothing at stake in the match but in competitive football like World Cup there is a lot at stake.
“This is just a friendly match so we cannot judge the Eagles with this kind of matches but the World Cup proper,’’ he said.
In his view, Blaise Ude the Enugu State boxing coach said that the future of the country’s football national team was bright going by the players’ performance.
“Though, I am a boxing coach but even a novice in football saw what happened throughout the match as Nigeria jersey was everywhere.
“I hope the field in Russia for the World Cup is not like the one we saw in Wednesday’s match because the pitch caused Eagles strikers their scoring chances,’’ he said.
Another enthusiast, Augustine Ezenwata, who runs a football show business in Abakpa, noted that Bryan Idowu lost two good chances in the second stanza of the match.
“This is not what we want in the world cup, so the technical crew still have a lot to do if this is all the team have in their kitty,’’ he said.
The Super Eagles last four friendly matches were against Serbia, DRC Congo, England and Czech Republic.
Eagles could only moster 1-1 draw against DRC Congo, lost 0-1 to Serbia, 2-1 to England and the Wednesday’s 0-1 to Czech. (NAN )
