Augustine Eguavoen has come out in defence of the performance of Chidera Ejuke during the Super Eagles 1-0 win over Egypt in their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Group D clash on Tuesday evening.
The CSKA Moscow winger came on to replace Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze with eighteen minutes left on the clock.
Ejuke's main attributes are his pace and ability to ghost past opponents
with ease and the right-footed player prefers
playing as an inverted winger rather than as a right winger.
Ejuke was criticized in some quarters for his performance against the Pharaohs but Eguavoen stood by the Super Eagles number 13, saying he brought him on to help Aina on the right side.
"We all know the strength of Ejuke and the strength of Umar as well. Ejuke normally is very, very strong on the left side," Eguavoen said at the post-match press conference.
"At that point in time, Moses Simon had an excellent game on the left side so Ejuke playing on the right side was just to give a little bit of a cover to help Aina.
"They were really very strong attacking from the left side, not that Chukwueze was doing badly but it was kind of a tactical change.
"However, Ejuke had two or three chances towards the end of the game."
"They were really very strong attacking from the left side, not that Chukwueze was doing badly but it was kind of a tactical change.
"However, Ejuke had two or three chances towards the end of the game."
Ejuke was a shock omission from the Super Eagles starting lineup as he was grouped with the probable starters in the training sessions leading up to the match against Egypt.
Igho Kingsley
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