Pinnick blames AFCON failure on ‘destiny’

Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), says “destiny” is what “was at work” in the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2017 AFrican Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Amaju said the federation did everything humanly possibly to motivate the team to win in Alexandria.

The Nigerian team played out a 1-1 draw with Egypt in Kaduna on Friday, before falling to a solitary goal in Alexandria on Tuesday, to miss out on Africa’s premier football tournament for the second consecutive edition.

“When destiny played out, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Pinnick told journalists on Wednesday.

“It is not mathematics or scientific. We did everything humanly and materially possible for us to qualify. We did.

“Based on security reports, we did everything to get the team to Alexandria on a chartered flight instead of the initial commercial Egypt airline arrangement put in place on a Friday. Good Friday for that matter.

“Super Eagles were accommodated in the best hotel at the Radisson Blu in Alexandria.”

The embittered president emphasized that it was hard luck that cost Nigeria a place in Gabon 2017.

“Last minute, we conceded in Kaduna when we were ready to be jubilating with the one-goal lead. To me, that is destiny at work.”

Amaju appealed to Nigerians to look beyond this disappointment without any hatred, saying: “This is not the time to hate, not the time to bicker. It is time for us to put our heads together and move our football forward.”

Immediately after the match in Alexandria Pinnick had declared to journalists that the FA would definitely engage the services of a foreign technical adviser, and that the financial implications will not be a challenge because the private sector will be funding the new coach’s salaries.