Nigeria v Egypt: We lost concentration, says Siasia

After Nigeria conceded a stoppage time goal to draw 1-1 in their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against the Pharaohs of Egypt on Friday, Super Eagles interim coach, Samson Siasia, has lamented that his team lost concentration in dying minutes of the game.

AS Roma forward Mohamed Salah broke Nigerian hearts, snatching a vital one point for the Pharaohs at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, ahead of the second leg of the encounter billed for the Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria on Tuesday.

“We lost concentration in the last two minutes of the game but we had a player down and we expected fair play. Sometimes fair play is not fair. But we should blame ourselves, not the Egyptians for the defeat,” Siasia said at a post-match press conference, which was boycotted by the Egyptians.

On the reverse fixture next week, Siasia said the team could win in Egypt and revive their hope of qualifying for the tournament in Gabon in 2017.

He said, “Everything is possible; we lost due to lack of concentration. We can’t be playing against our opponents and allow them to score against us. That’s all. We can talk from now till tomorrow. We can’t go backward. We have to move forward, we have to get ourselves together and go to Egypt and win. There’s nothing we can do.”

The point retained Egypt’s lead at the summit of Group G with seven points while Nigeria are second in the group with five points.

The Eagles need a win to improve their chance in the race for the automatic qualification spot as Tanzania, who are third with four points and will host Chad in their next game, will move to second if they win and  Nigeria plays a draw or loses in Alexandria.

Nigeria threw away a 1-0 lead in the match, which they dominated.Oghenekaro Etebo scored in the 59th minute in the packed stadium before Salah beat an offside trap in the 90th minute to equalise.

Siasia handed a first international start to Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho, Warri Wolves midfielder, Etebo and defender, Stanley Amuzie. Victor Moses came from  the bench to replace Ahmed Musa and Moses Simon completed the attacking trio for the Eagles. Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi was also brought in as a substitute.

 Etebo was paired in the midfield with captain Mikel Obi while the defence had Godfrey Oboabona, Amuzie, Shehu Abdullahi and Efe Ambrose.

Nigeria had no clear-cut chance in the early stages until Egypt almost broke the deadlock in the 18th minute as Salah and Abdallah El-Said combined for Koka to draw a superb save from Carl Ikeme in the Nigerian goal.

It was thereafter that the pendulum slung to the Nigerian side as the Egyptians strived to thwart several attempts on their goal. Egypt’s keeper Ahmed El-Shennawi saved efforts from Simon before doing same for another from Iheanacho.

Egypt’s resistance was broken shortly before the hour mark when Iheanacho’s snapshot struck the bar and fell for Etebo to smuggle home at the back post. Nigeria pushed for a second and El-Shennawi made further excellent stops from Ighalo and substitute Victor Moses.

Moses rounded the keeper in the 84th minute, only for Rami Rabia to clear off the line.