Super Eagles midfielder, Joe Aribo, says the team were not good enough to win after losing 1-0 to Tunisia in the Round of 16 of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Youssef Msakni 45th minute strike was the decider as Nigeria chased the game to no avail.
The team were further dealt a huge blow after midfielder Alex Iwobi was sent off in the 66th minute for a dangerous tackle after the incident was reviewed on the Video Assistant Referee screen.
Pundits had given the game to the Eagles, who had an impressive group stage performance winning all three games, but Aribo insists they did not underestimate the Tunisians, adding that the Eagles were not just good enough on the night.
“I wouldn’t say we underestimated Tunisia, we always go into every game with respect for our opponents, so we have nothing to do with underestimating them. They had a good game plan but we weren’t just good enough on the day,” Aribo said after the match.
“I think we started the game really slow, we allowed them to get a full hold of the game, we can’t take anything away from them but we should have been better in the 90 minutes we just took too long to respond and when we started playing, we had the red card.”
Aribo, however, further added that the result had dampened the mood in camp
That’s not how we wanted things to go and the way it is in camp now, no one is happy.
Credit- Punch
