The minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has promised that the lessons from the AFCON outing will be used to help the Super Eagles plan better for the future.
In a statement, the Minister stated that the Super Eagles will sooner than later recover from Sunday’s disappointing ouster from the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The Nigerian side had won all three group games, but fell to a solitary strike from the Tunisians in the knockout stages on Sunday to end their AFCON journey.
“The Super Eagles exit from the AFCON is indeed painful. We had hoped with their prior superlative performances they would advance and come home with a historic victory in our hands.
“Although we did not reach our goal, as a nation we have reason to be proud and optimistic about the future of our team. This collection of individual talents came together to forge a true team.
“They played hard and in unison, and with a common desire to make Nigeria proud and prove themselves worthy of representing our beloved nation on and off the field of play. In this, they performed admirably.
“The players gave a good account of themselves and made Nigeria proud. They have put Africa and the rest of the world on notice.
“Our eyes are set on greater glory with this crop of talented and skilful Super Eagles players. We believe in them and will do all we can to ensure they qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar this November and next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cote’d Ivoire,” reads the statement.
