How Super Eagles ended 2020 without winning a match

The Super Eagles were on Tuesday forced to a barren draw by Sierra Leone in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier, a development that ensured the three-time African champions ended 2020 without a win.

In the reverse fixture of the encounter played at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City on Friday, Gernot Rohr’s men threw away a 4-0 lead, managing a 4-4 draw.

“So we are doing everything in training and in the meeting, we will do, we will see again everything in the video, speak about the mistakes and I’m sure they will react because I know my team, I know what we can do, they showed it in the first half,” coach Gernot Rohr said in an interview on the Super Eagles YouTube channel.

Despite vowing to beat the Leone Stars, Nigeria’s attack could not breakdown the Sierra Leonean defence. A Kelechi Iheanacho goal was, however, flagged down for offside.

Nigeria sit at the top of the Group L standing in the qualifier for the competition in spite of the draw.

An Unfruitful Year? The Sierra Leone game is the 2013 AFCON champions’ fourth match for the year. They lost one of them and drew three.

They began the year with back-to-back friendly matches against Tunisia and Algeria. Both games were played in  October at the Jacques Lemans Arena in Austria.

FT: Nigeria 0-1 Algeria.
A very competitive friendly game.#NGAALG#SoarSuperEagles #Team9jaStrong.

Borussia Mönchengladbach star Ramy Bensebaini scored the lone goal in the clash with Algeria on October 9th to hand the North African side their second consecutive win over Nigeria.

FT:
Nigeria 1-1 Tunisia.
A very good, competitive friendly game ends at the Jacques Lemans Arena in An Der Glan, Austria with honours even.#NGATUN#SoarSuperEagles #Team9jaStrong.

A few days later – 13th of October – Iheanacho’s 21st-minute strike proved inadequate as the Carthage Eagles forced Rohr’s charges to a 1-1 draw.

Nigeria’s next match will be against the Benin Republic in a 2021 AFCON qualifier. That game will take place in March 2021. They will equally play Lesotho the same month.