Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen says Almeria forward Sadiq Umar is guilty of not playing according to instructions after another unimpressive performance at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Just as it was for Nigeria in their 1-0 win over Egypt, Sadiq was introduced as a second half substitute for Taiwo Awoniyi with Nigeria leading 3-1. He didn’t do enough to justify his introduction, same like it was in the first game.
It led to suggestions about the coach not making the right substitution but Eguavoen was quick to play it down insisting that it is a case of Umar not playing to instructions.
“Substitution yes has been spot on, you can see Awoniyi the lone striker, of course, Iheanacho behind him, he was tired,” he told his post-match press conference on Saturday.
“It was necessary for us to bring in fresh legs, but the instruction given to the player [Sadiq] that comes in is a little bit different from what he goes in there and does so makes it a bit difficult.
“I think we have a bench rich enough to pull us through”.
