It is no longer news that the current AFCON Champions Nigeria will not be defending the trophy they won in South Africa in 2013.
But the question that still remains is, what led to unexpected failure of the Champions to qualify for the bi-annual competition and robbed them the opportunity to defend the trophy.
With this failure, Super Eagles of Nigeria has joined Pharaoh of Egypt as defending Champions that failed to qualify and defend the trophy won in the same competition.
But words going round attached Nigeria failure to unsettled differences in the local football governing body and government interferences in football issue. Another factor was the quality of players called to represent the country. These are players that are not in good form at their various club sides. Many also believe that many of the players that won the last AFCON trophy are no more in the team, especially the match winner Sunday Mba.
But the failure to qualify is seen as blessing in disguise for Nigeria, it will be a good opportunity for the country to build another younger team for future competitions.
All is not yet over for Nigeria to dominate African football once again!
Source: DSG
