Former Eagles striker, Pascal Patrick believes the Super Eagles would have ‘easily’ retained the Africa Cup of Nations if they had qualified.
Pascal, an Atlanta ’96 Gold medal winner for Nigeria believes all the teams at the African championship have been poor, and believes it would have been an ‘easy ride’ for the Super Eagles if only they had made the tournament.
“This Africa Cup of Nations has not been interesting because all the teams have not been playing well. The inconsistency is just too much and I believe we would have easily retained the cup if we had qualified because we would have beaten most of these teams,” he said.
The tournament is at its semifinal stage, with hosts Equatorial Guinea beaten Tunisia to advance – albeit controversially. Power-houses, Cameroon, Cote D’ Ivoire, Ghana and pre-tournament favourites, Algeria have all struggled to impress, and this has left Pascal ruing Nigeria’s failure to make the mundial.
“I still feel sad whenever I think about it, especially when I watch the games. The big teams are not playing well and this would have been a big opportunity for us to win it for the fourth time.”