Nigeria’s Sports Minister Solomon Dalung has said that the inability of Nigeria's technical crew to make necessary changes that could have helped the Super Eagles hang on for a draw against Argentina on Tuesday night cost the team a spot in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.
The Super Eagles were beaten 2-1 by a spirited Argentine side, who would have crashed out of the competition had the game ended in a draw.
Even though the referee ruled out a clear chance for a second penalty award against La Albiceleste, and substitute Odion Ighalo missed a few scoring opportunities, Dalung insisted that the Eagles could have seen out the match without losing.
“We lost the match due to the poor technical judgment which failed to inject necessary changes to compliment (sic) the effort of the team that was under last-minute pressure,” Dalung tweeted in reply to a post by a licensed FIFA players' agent Onugbu Andy Okwuise.
Just like Dalung, Onugbu held the Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr responsible for the loss.
“The players gave a very good account of themselves yesterday but one would've expected the coach to make a tactical change at that 86th minutes when that free kick was awarded against Nigeria,” Onugbu said. “He would have introduced a defensive back up.”
This article was most recently revised and updated 4 years ago
