Nigeria head coach Augustine Eguavoen says he knows where Nigeria have to improve if they are to beat Ghana in the return leg of their World Cup play-off on Tuesday.
The first leg in Kumasi ended 0-0 which leaves the Super Eagles needing a home win to reach Qatar 2022, which would be their fourth World Cup qualification in a row.
“Ghana were on top of their game in the first leg but they didn’t have any clear-cut chances – but we had two clear-cut chances,” Eguavoen said ahead of Tuesday’s clash in Abuja.
“Ghana are not a pushover, they have a lot of talent. We will keep respecting them and I’m very sure the Ghana team will give us a lot of respect.
“We wanted to win the first leg but if we couldn’t win I would have settled for a draw and that’s exactly what happened. Our organisation was very good, we combined well in all the lines.
“But we didn’t react quickly, so that’s something we have to work on because we cannot allow the Ghanaian players freedom on the ball,” Eguavoen added.
Meanwhile, Nigeria defender William Troost-Ekong says he is not worried that the Super Eagles have not scored in their last two games.
The 0-0 draw against Ghana in Kumasi was their first match since the 1-0 defeat to Tunisia in the last 16 of the recent Africa Cup of Nations.
“I think you can look at it two ways. We have players known to score goals including Emmanuel Dennis and Odion Ighalo [who were on the bench] and I would back all of them. I think they are going to feel even more challenged to score and show everyone that they can do that”, Troost-Ekong said.
“Secondly we’ve only conceded one goal in the last five games so maybe that’s where our strength lies as well.
“And of course the boys scored at the Afcon [in the group stage] so I’m not worried about scoring goals at all. I see the forwards in training everyday, I see what they’ve done in the Nigeria jersey.
“We’ve learnt from the first leg and we’ll try to exploit the defence in a different way. We still managed to get through them once or twice in the first leg and we just have to be more clinical.”
BBC
