By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Super Eagles Interim Coach, Augustine Equavoen has said that his predecessor in office, Finidi George did his best as the team’s national coach, but blamed the defeats they suffered during his time to believe and approach to achieving success.
Equavoen who reacted to questions from journalists during a post- Super Eagles, Cheetahs match press conference in Uyo on Saturday, freed his predecessor of blame in what was seen as “series of poor results” recorded in previous matches played by Super Eagles with Finidi as the head coach.
“If you say poor results, you are not getting it right. Football is a game that you sometimes win, lose or draw. I don’t believe we have poor results. But then I’m not going to say that the former Coach didn’t do a good job. It has to do with believe; it has to do with what is at stake, your mindset and what you want to achieve.” Equavoen argued.
Going forward however, he expressed optimism that with the good formation and information he has as a Coach, Super Eagles will break through the wall to victory.
According to him, “We have quality players, we can decide to use any system. It is something we discussed and I slept over it and I know with the caliber of players that we have, we can decide to play any formation and be successful.
“Psychologically as a group, we have agreed, where we are and where we are going to be. We will definitely achieve it. When much is expected from Nigerians, that is when we see performance.
“We have quality players to beat any team but we respect team anyway. Any Coach can come in and do the same job.
“It is mindset, we have the potential and how you perceived your opponent, given information and then go out and do the job.” He positioned.
The Super Eagles Interim Manager commended the defense of his team in Saturday’s encounter between Super Eagles and Cheetahs of Benin Republic, describing it as superb, saying the team had been training together for one week.
He said the Cheetahs of Benin Republic were a good side and came with a good game planned for the day’s performance but had a surprise from Super Eagles skills, hence the victory.
Recalled during the deciding encounter play at Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Victor Lookman opened the scorelines for the Super Eagles when he dribbled through the Cheetahs defence to score the first goal at about 5:47 minutes during two minutes added time
Victor Osimhen who came in from the bench scored at 72 minutes in the second half and then three minutes to the last whistle, Lookman secured 3-0 win for Super Eagles.
