AFCON 2021: ‘We just needed to be better’- Aribo speaks on why the Super Eagles lost to Tunisia

The three-time AFCON kings were booted out of the competition following a 1-0 loss to the Carthage Eagles, but Aribo feels they could have done better 

Super Eagles midfielder Joe Aribo has admitted that Nigeria did not do enough and were too conservative in their 1-0 loss to the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia on Sunday.

The Super Eagles were eliminated from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations after they lost to a short-staffed Tunisian team.

Austin Eguavoen’s men were favourites going into the tie because they were outstanding in the group stages, unlike their Tunisian counterparts, who lost two of their games.

However, the Tunisians triumphed over the Super Eagles after Msakni’s second-half goal.

It was a cagey setup from Nigeria coach Augustine Eguavoen, with the Super Eagles hardly creating any clear cut chance in the first half.

Midfielder Aribo believes that was why the Super Eagles lost, and he also affirmed that they could have taken the game to the Tunisians.

“I just think we started really slow, we allowed them to get a foothold in the game,” Aribo said after the game.

“We can’t take anything away from them, but we should have been better in the 90 minutes.”

“We just took too long to respond until the first goal- it’s the only time we started playing, and then we had the red card incident, which was a bit disappointing also.”

“We could have done things differently, but we weren’t just good enough in the 90 minutes, we gave them too much respect on the ball, but we just needed to be better and take the game to them more,” he added.