NFF turn to 2017 AFCON after CHAN Flop

The Nigeria Football Federation has put behind them
Nigeria’s elimination from the 2016 African Nations
Championship.

Saddened by the Super Eagles’ shock defeat in the hands of
Guinea on Tuesday evening, the country’s football house
said their focus will now be to help the team qualify for the
2017 African Cup of Nations in Gabon.

President Amaju Pinnick appealed to Nigerians following
Sunday Oliseh’s men ouster in Rwanda saying the
tournament is ‘both developmental and preparatory for
bigger challenges’.

“We apologise to Nigerians for the poor outing of the Super
Eagles in Rwanda, but we toe the line of Caf which states
that CHAN is a developmental and preparatory competition,”
Pinnick was quoted by the NFF website.

“Of course, as Nigerians, we love to win always, and we feel
bad when we don’t. I want us to take the positives from this
tournament.

“A player like Chisom Chikatara broke onto the global
platform and players like Usman Mohammed, Chima Akas,
Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Austin Oboroakpo and Ifeanyi Mathew
confirmed their class.

“For me, it is disappointing that we did not progress but the
NFF will now focus on the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, and start
preparations early for the remaining rounds,” he concluded.

Nigeria face Egypt in their next qualifying game on March 23
while the return leg hold in Cairo five days later. In June,
Eagles take on Chad in N’Djamena before hosting Tanzania
in the final round of matches in September.