By Esther Egbe
Despite the best efforts of the youngest team at the Russia 2018 World Cup, there inexperienced came to the fore has the Super Eagles were unable to hold Messi and his compatriots to a draw which looked likely as late as the 85th minute of the encounter.
Team captain, John Mikel Obi who spoke after the game expressed his disappointment that of the entire team at not being able to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians and Fans worldwide who had adopted the Super Eagles going into the tournament,National Daily monitored.
He said, “It is so painful that we are out in the tournament as we had hoped to push further but we lost it at the tail end of game which held much promise. We are disappointed as a team, and as the captain of this amazing team I truly feel we are failed Nigerian and our fans, so on behalf of the entire team I’d like tender an unreserved apology.”
He however went on to state that the team would pick itself up immediately and not let this exit have any lasting effect as on the whole he felt the performances barring the match against Croatia were good,National Daily learnt.
The former Chelsea stars who hope to still be part of the team that’d make it to Qatar in 2022 concluded by saying, “I hope I can continue being with the team until the next world cup. It’s a fantastic team, one of the best I’ve ever played in, but I will like to take it one year at a time for now. We will see what happens.”
Ighalo Jude Idion told National Daily that Nigerians should please accept his apologises,also to my teammates. I take responsibility for this game because I had taken those chances I had that would have made it a different ball game now. But that is football and life has to continue.
Idion explained that “It’s a sad day for me, the boys and the country because we went out in a bad manner and we deserved more in the game. We had a penalty in the game and another one which the referee did not give.
“I am so sorry i missed a couple of chances that would have finished the game but that’s football because sometimes you win and sometimes to lose,” said Jude.