Super Eagles head coach Austine Eguavoen has declared that the team is missing the experience and expertise of Victor Osimhen and Odion Ighalo in front of goal at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Completesports.com reports.
Osimhen was replaced in Nigeria’s squad for the competition by Slavia Prague forward Peter Olayinka after failing to recover in time from an injury.
Ighalo on the other hand was denied the chance to appear in his second AFCON finals after he was not released by Saudi Arabia Professional League outfit Al Shabab.
In the duo’s absence, Taiwo Awoniyi have the led the line for the West Africans in Cameroon, but Union Berlin striker is yet to make much impact in the competition.
The three-time champions missed a number of good chances in their opening two games against Egypt and Sudan and Eguavoen admitted things would have been different with Ighalo and Osimhen at his disposal.
They (Osimhen and Ighalo) are two different players who can actually score two goals out of three chances. Awoniyi and Sadiq are two different type
of players too,” Eguavoen after the team’s training session on Sunday.
“That’s not to say they can’t score goals. Awoniyi has been scoring goals in the German league and Sadiq as well .
“The good thing is that we are not giving the responsibility to the strikers alone. Other players too can score goals for us.
“We have giving Aribo the chance to move up the field and he has done that very well. He could have scored one or two goals against Sudan. Anybody can score in our team.
“However Ighalo and Osimhen are two different players from what we have now, that’s why we are trying to play to our strength.”
The Super Eagles will face the Djurtus of Guinea-Bissau in their final group game at the Roumde Adjia Stadium, Garoua.
