Lawal Blasts ‘Overhyped’ Super Eagles After Guinea-Bissau Rout

Former Nigeria international says Eagles failed to match hosts’ intensity and warns against relying on foreign-born players

Former Nigeria international Dimeji Lawal has criticised the Super Eagles’ performance in their 3-0 defeat to Guinea-Bissau, describing the team’s display as poor and questioning the quality of some of the players being relied upon.

Nigeria suffered a heavy defeat in Bissau on Tuesday in their second Group L fixture of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, leaving the three-time African champions with three points from two matches.

Franculino Dju put Guinea-Bissau ahead in the 15th minute before Mama Baldé doubled the advantage in the 66th minute. Álvaro Djaló then completed the rout in stoppage time as the hosts moved to six points at the top of the group.

Lawal said the Super Eagles failed to impose themselves on the game and created too little going forward.

“I expected the team to take the game straight to their hosts, but we allowed them to dominate and created very few chances to threaten their goalkeeper,” Lawal told Completesports.com.

“I really feel disappointed with this result, but that is not the end of the world because there are still many matches to play in the group. I am still optimistic the Super Eagles will top the group.”

However, the former midfielder was more critical when assessing the make-up of the current squad, claiming that too many players have been overhyped.

“We have too many overhyped players and a country that goes after every foreign-born player. Once we see players with Nigerian names, we run after them,” Lawal said on BRILA Media.

“We are talking about African football, which is quite different from European football. That’s one of the basic problems we’ve been having and will continue to have.”

Lawal, who was part of Nigeria’s squad that won silver at the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup, contrasted the current generation with former Super Eagles stars such as Austin Okocha and Daniel Amokachi.

“In the days of Austin Okocha and Daniel Amokachi, they had an African football background before mixing it with European football,” he said.

“But what do we have now? We just run after players who have never set foot on our soil to come and play African football. You think African football is easy?”

The former international also dismissed the notion that so-called lesser-ranked African teams can no longer pose a serious threat, pointing to the result in Bissau as evidence.

“For a very long time, I knew there was nothing like pushovers anymore, and when you look at the results, it shows that if you don’t hold your own, you will find it very difficult,” he said.

Nigeria remain second in Group L on three points, while Madagascar and Tanzania have one point each.

The Super Eagles will return to qualifying action on 11 November, when they host Tanzania in Uyo in their third group match.