Posted by From Christian Okpara, Port Said, Egypt on
The most valuable player in Friday's Nations Cup match between Zimbabwe and Nigeria, Kaondera Shingaya, believes the introduction of Kanu Nwankwo paved the way for Nigeria's victory over the Southern Africans.
The most valuable player in Friday's Nations Cup match between Zimbabwe and Nigeria, Kaondera Shingaya, believes the introduction of Kanu Nwankwo paved the way for Nigeria's victory over the Southern Africans.
Speaking to journalists after the encounter, which Nigeria won 2-0, Shingaya said everything was going well for his team until Kanu came into the fray.
He said that the match was already heading for to a draw when ''Kanu came and disorganised our game plan.'
''We knew that Kanu was highly gifted but we never reckonend that an individual could have such a devastating effect on the course of our match.
''If you followed the match closely, you would have noticed that we made it impossible for Nigeria to have their way, but somehow, Kanu and Obi's introduction changed the match totally,'' Shingaya said.
To the Zimbabwean coach, Charles Mhlauri, whose team needed to get at least a draw against Nigeria to have any hope of moving on in the competition, the outcome of the encounter showed the depth of talent in Nigeria's football.
He said, ''I am very disappointed with our loss to Nigeria. We came here to do our best but we could not achieve our aim. But I must say that Nigeria has a lot of resources, which nations can only dream of. We don't have that luxury of so many talented players to choose from. But we will continue to try to achieve result with what we have.''
He predicted that Nigeria could get far in this championship if they harnessed the materials available very well.