Duro Ikhazuagbe
Super Eagles forward, Akor Adams, who has refused to use the poor pitch as excuse for Super Eagles 3-0 defeat in Guinea-Bissau last Tuesday, has urged African countries to develop their football playing surfaces in line with global best standards.
Speaking yesterday to NFF Media in Russia, the Italian Serie A Venezia striker, insisted that African football should have a minimum standard for international games.
“I think a good pitch should be a bare minimum for African football. We all know this. I’m not making any excuses (for Nigeria’s 3-0 defeat in Guinea-Bissau), and I would not make excuses”, he added.
Adams however stressed that as professionals, Super Eagles should have envisaged the kind of low quality pitches that countries take their opponents to play in.
“We are professionals, and we should know that there are a lot of things that come with the game. The weather, the referee, whatever the circumstances, we should be able to find our way.
“But a good pitch should be the bare minimum for how big African football is, and that was not the case on that day in Bissau,” observed the former Sevilla forward.
The AFCON 2025 bronze medalist insisted Nigeria ought not to have lost the qualifier last Tuesday to now put the Super Eagles three points behind the Wild Dogs in Group L standings.
“I think there are many factors that happened in the game, but it’s not a game we should lose, and we have to take responsibility for that. We have taken responsibility for it.
“It’s a game we prepared very well for. We knew how important it was to us in the qualification phase. But looking back, we are already making corrections to what happened in the game. In the game of football, we were on the bad side on that day as a group and as a team.
“We know our possibilities and how good we can be when we are at our best. But that wasn’t our best day. It’s something we have to take responsibility for.”
“There are still games to go, but with qualifications, we try our best in this generation not to be in a place where we need another team to either do good or do bad so we can qualify.
“But we fell short against Guinea-Bissau, and we understand better now. We will make sure we come out good,” the Benue-born forward assured Nigerian fans.
The poor performance against Guinea-Bissau has left Nigeria three points behind the Djurtus, with four games remaining to rescue their qualifying campaign and avoid another major setback following their failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.