Four Takeaways From Nigeria's 2-1 Loss To Togo In The WAFU Cup

Izuchukwu Okosi highlights the four takeaways from the game.

1. Togo The New Bogey Team For Home Eagles?

Togo only last week thrashed Nigeria 4-1 in the first leg, final round of qualifiers to the 2020 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) and that set alarm bells ringing.

Some sections of the Nigerian fan base felt the Eagles will redeem themselves at the WAFU Cup but that had not been the case - both defeats in the space of one week.

2. Big Lesson For LMC

If there is one painful lesson these defeats by the home based Super Eagles will hand to the League Management Company is that they must be structured.

The start of the new season has been postponed severally but it remains to be seen if the now rumoured October 2019-May 2020 calendar will hold as they seek to align their football calendar with European leagues.

The Togolese national team had been in camp for several months prior to the CHAN qualifier.


3. Players Surely Not Happy With Imama Amapakabo

Imama Amapakabo in the aftermath of the defeat to Togo told the world that home based players and coaches in Nigeria (definitely including him) are untrainable.

That unguided statement put out for the media to feast on did not win the former Enugu Rangers coach many friends and it is seen as diverting attention from his failings.

There's a suspicion that the home based Eagles have not put in a 100% show worthy to secure a win.


4. Amapakabo Is A Bad Traveller

The CHAN qualifier which Nigeria lost recently was played in Lome, Togo. The home based Eagles has now been defeated by the same opponents this time in Thies, Senegal.

And who led  them on both occasions? Coach Imama Amapakabo who had also lost to Libya away in the 2020 Olympics qualifier and had to depend on his foreign based Eagles mainly the Super Eagles stars within the  age range to salvage a victory at home to qualify for the U-23 AFCON.

Izuchukwu Okosi