By Ben Efe, In New Delhi
Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen has said that his players’ refusal to heed to pre-match tactics caused Nigeria’s 1-0 defeat to Guinea during the match day two of the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier in Conakry.

The Nigerians were undone by a seventh minute strike from Syli Stars’ forward, who beat the watching Eagles defenders before putting the ball beyond the reach of an helpless Vincent Enyeama, who stood between the sticks for the two-time African champions.

The defeat has now left the Eagles three points adrift of the Syli Stars, who have scooped maximum six points and look well on course to gain a ticket to play in the Cup of Nations scheduled to hold two years from now.
Opening up on what he felt caused the Eagles to fall so easily against a Guinean side, who in all fairness did not look fantastic, Eguavoen said his players started the match on a sloppy note, which in turn, allowed the hosts to get the advantage of scoring early on.
“My players did not start the game the way we expected them to and that allowed the Guineans to seize the momentum and get the goal. My players were also wasteful in front of goals. If we had taken our chances, we would have fared better.

“Also, I expected them to raise the game but they just could not. It was a hard one for me to take as I just felt that they were not giving their best to salvage something from the game. It was a sloppy start from us.

We played really badly in the first half, and we were punished for one lapse in concentration”, said the former Eagles defender, who confessed that the Guineans would have been beaten had his players been more daring in front of goals.
“We would have beaten them but the players did not just take the bull by the horns”, said Eguavoen.