Former Super Eagles coach, Austin Eguavoen, has claimed that Nigeria’s 1994 squad could have won the World Cup in their debut appearance in 1994 if not for inexperience, Sports Extra reports.
The Eagles shocked the world with a 3-0 win over Bulgaria in their opening game of the campaign and topping their group ahead of Argentina, despite losing to the South Americans.
Looking back at the round of 16 2-1 defeat to Italy at the Foxboro Stadium, Foxborough, Eguavoen blamed the players and the coaching crew for poorly managing the game.
“If not for inexperience, we could have gone on to win the World Cup in 1994 as debutants,” he told spnafrica.com.
“I say inexperience because we’ve never been there before. For experience, if you’ve been doing something for a very long time, you will know what to do at every particular time.
“I put the blame on the entire team, not just us but the management as well. In as much as I have been praising (Clemens) Westerhof, he and the technical crew could have managed the game better if they were experienced enough.
“Time management because before Italy got that equaliser, the time had gone. When I started my coaching career I made the same mistake but I started adjusting. I didn’t know that then, but if Westerhof had changed the pattern of play and reversed the formation, or tell players to go down (we would have had a different result).”
