Head Coach of Home-based Super Eagles, Imama Amakapabo believed the team paid for Mfon Udoh misses in their 2-1 defeat to Togo in the WAFU Cup tie on Sunday.
The Eagles failed to avenge a 4-1 loss to Togo in first leg of 2020 CHAN qualifiers in Sunday’s WAFU Cup game as Akwa United striker Mfon Udoh failed to convert two golden opportunities presented to him late on in the game.
Udoh came on in the 63rd minutes and failed to convert any of three clear-cut chances he had , before he was sent off in stoppage time as Togo held for another win.
Imama believed the player let the team down by failing to convert the chances but insists it was a bad day in the office for the two time Nigeria Professional football league top scorer.
“I told Udoh before the game that he was going to win it for us, so it was a deliberate tactical change to bring him on,”
“My job as a coach is to make a team that will create chances, but it still rests on the player to convert that chance with the tactical approach of the team.
“He [Udoh] had two chances he should have buried; unfortunately he did not. He is one of the highest goal scorers in the league in Nigeria, but he had a bad day.”
The home-based Eagles will now face the losers between Cote d’Ivoire and Cape Verde in the quarterfinal of the WAFU Cup Plate section on Monday.
