SPORT: I wasn’t impressed by your most recent game -Tinubu

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

President Bola Tinubu reportedly told Sen. John Owan Enoh, the honorable minister of sports development, that he was not too thrilled with the Super Eagles’ performance in their most recent Africa Cup of Nations Group A match against Guinea-Bissau.

Enoh revealed this to the Super Eagles players and coaches during a Zoom meeting on Wednesday, one day before Nigeria’s round of 16 matchup with Cameroon.

Remember that Nigeria defeated Guinea-Bissau 1-0 to place second in Group A, trailing only Equatorial Guinea, the eventual winners.

“One of the main reasons that made me have this call with you is the chance I had meeting with Mr President yesterday, I went to the Villa for something else and the president cornered me and said, ‘we managed to qualify [for the Round of 16].’ I said your Excellency, that is how we will be going until we win the tournament. And he said, ‘tell our players I wasn’t too impressed in our last match but I know that now that they are off the Group stages, I know they are going to impress me more and more.’ That is what the president told me,” Enoh said.

“The president is actually watching your matches and he is urging you and he knows that there was a lot of consciousness at the Group stages and he knows that from the Round of 16 that they [Super Eagles] are going to be more and more impressive.

“I remembered that in 2022 in Cameroon, at the Group stages, Egypt as a country barely struggled to qualify but that same Egypt went ahead to go and play the finals. I remembered that same Egypt, we won them in the Group stage. I remembered that superlative goal scored by Kelechi Iheanacho. I also need to communicate to you the mood back home in the country, Every Nigerian is rooting for you and believing you are going to do it again like the slogan of the NFF.”