Ex-Nigeria international Felix Owolabi says the Super Eagles were overhyped at the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.
Nigeria crashed out of the ongoing tournament in the Round of 16 following a 1-0 loss to Tunisia.
Speaking recently on a weekly radio show, Parrot Xtra/Ayekooto on Radio’ anchored by Olayinka Agboola and broadcast live on Splash 105.5FM, Felele Ibadan, Oyo State, Owolabi said, “I am not surprised about the performance of the team, our opponents at the group stage did not give us stiff opposition and Eguavoen within his short time as coach optimised the use of playing from the wing to neutralise the opposition.
“We overhyped the players and the sudden removal of Kelechi Iheanacho from the pitch during the Tunisia encounter affected the performance of the team. Tunisia monitored our style of play while we failed to do same because of the deficiency on the side of our technical department to monitor our opponents’ styles of play.”
Owolabi called on the Nigerian Football Federation to retain the services of Super Eagles’ interim coach, Austin Eguavoen, stating that such move will ensure continuity and progress for the team.
He further urged NFF to strengthen the technical department of the team ahead of the World Cup play-off against Ghana in March.
On the current situation of the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), he said, “3SC is a big club irrespective of the position of the club presently, one of the problems the club is having is that it just got promotion to NPFL and everybody is expecting them to win a trophy at all cost. Looking at the caliber of players in the team, they are very young and their future is very bright.”
The former Nigeria international further charged the Oyo State Government to bring in experienced sports administrators to manage the affairs of 3SC in order to regain its lost glory, affirming that the club is the only representative in Nigeria to win two different continental titles in Africa.
Since retiring from football, Owolabi has ventured into supplying and selling of sporting equipment but soon stopped as it was not profitable. He is now into animal husbandry, particularly piggery and poultry farming.
