The Nigeria Football Supporters Club boss has tasked the Amaju Pinnick led board to tighten their seat belt following the Super Eagles Africa Cup of Nations ouster.
President of the Nigeria football and other sports supporters club, Rafiu Ladipo has expressed grief over the non-qualification of the Super Eagles to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations billed for Equatorial Guinea.
Stephen Keshi’s men needed just a win against the South Africans but were stunned as Rantie’s brace denied the African champions a place in the next edition of the biannual Africa football showpiece.
In a no hold barred chat with Goal, the gaffer of the supporters club said something severe needs to be done to ensure the country qualify for the next edition of the competition.
"Wednesday was a sad day in the history of Nigeria football especially the followers of the game in the country. It was a day we had every opportunity to pick the ticket to the Cup of Nations. Unfortunately, our players messed up and threw everybody into mourning,” Ladipo lamented to Goal.
"This is not a good development for Nigeria football and I want to say that something drastic has to be done.
"Drastic in the sense that having failed to qualify, there will be another competition in the next two years and we have to start preparing.
"Drastic in the sense that having failed to qualify, there will be another competition in the next two years and we have to start preparing.
"Are we going to wait for the eleventh hour to start preparing? Or are we going to wait till when the competition is near to start assembling the best legs?, I think we should start now.
The seasoned football administrator also fingered the Super Eagles players for their lackadaisical attitude against Bafana Bafana which nailed the country’s hopes of featuring in Equatorial Guinea while also advocating that the NFF should start preparing for the nest edition of the championship.
"Those players did not play with commitment. How on earth will a striker be free with the goalkeeper on three occasions without scoring?, he queried.
"If you create chances without converting them, then how do you win a match? The South Africans had two good chances and they convert them and that was all. For me, the players failed us.
"Also, the technical crew are also culpable because they cannot be exonerated. The way forward is that the Nigeria Football Federation should sit up and start preparing for the next African Cup of Nations, the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
"We need players who can do us proud. It is clear we have good materials across the world and even if they are average players, they can be turned to world beaters. We equally have players in the Nigeria Premier League that can be assisted to be world’s best.
"Something has to be done now because you cannot toy with the fate of every Nigerians. Nobody is happy. Anyway, we have the opportunity to rebuild because if you go with this kind of players to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, we will be out rightly disgraced,” he concluded.
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