The West Africans recorded their first defeat on the road to Qatar despite dominating play in Lagos on Thursday
Former Nigeria midfielder Mutiu Adepoju has described the Super Eagles’ 1-0 defeat to the Central African Republic in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers as “very disappointing”.
Gernot Rohr’s men were stunned at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Thursday after second-half substitute Karl Namnganda broke the deadlock in the 90th minute following a mix-up between centre-backs William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun.
Before the Wild Beasts’ breakthrough, Nigeria dominated possession but they lacked the cutting edge to beat goalkeeper Prince Samolah, despite the presence of Victor Osimhen, Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon, Taiwo Awoniyi, Samuel Kalu and Ahmed Musa in the frontline.
The defeat was more of an upset for Nigeria, who are 34th on the Fifa rankings while CAR sit in the 124th spot. And with eyebrows raised, Adepoju is expecting the Nigeria Football Federation to review the team’s performance closely.
“It was very disappointing. Losing to the Central African Republic is very disappointing,” Adepoju told Goal.
“Definitely, questions will be asked to know why and what happened. Whether it’s a question or a query, there is no Federation that will lose a game and not take actions to guide against future occurrence.
“I don’t know about the query for Rohr but people will ask questions if you lose the game you are expected to win.”
Despite the home loss, the Super Eagles sit atop of Group C with six points after three matches while Cape Verde and Central African Republic trail with four points in the second and third spots, respectively.
Meanwhile, the former Real Madrid midfielder is still optimistic that three-time African champions will bounce back to victory when they visit CAR for the return fixture in Douala on Sunday.
“We still have a chance to qualify and our next game is against them,” he continued.
“We have won two games and if we win Sunday’s game that will be nine points. It is not the end because we still have two other games.
“I’m sure they know that yesterday’s match should not be a defeat. They just have to buckle up and get things right for Sunday. The players will not be happy about the result and I’m still confident we can win the next game in Cameroon.”
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