AFCON 2025: Gusau urges Super Eagles to push for Bronze against Egypt

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau, has charged the Super Eagles to put their semi-final disappointment behind them and give their all in the third-place match against Egypt.

Nigeria suffered a narrow 4–2 defeat on penalties to tournament hosts, Morocco’s Atlas Lions, after regulation time ended in a draw in their semi-final clash in Rabat on Wednesday night.

Éric Chelle’s side will now face the Pharaohs of Egypt in the third-place playoff scheduled for Saturday at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.

Speaking on the team’s outlook ahead of the encounter, Gusau stressed the importance of maintaining focus and not dwelling on the loss to Morocco.

He noted that the Super Eagles performed admirably despite the challenges they faced.

“It is important to retain focus by not continuing to dwell on what happened in the semi-final match.

” As far as we are concerned, the team coped well in the circumstances, navigating a number of challenges and playing their game,” Gusau told thenff.com.

The NFF president described penalty shootouts as unpredictable, adding that the outcome could have gone either way, just as Nigeria benefitted from penalties at a similar stage two years ago.

“Penalty shootouts remain lotteries in the game and it could have gone either way.

Two years ago, they won their semi-final match of the AFCON after a penalty shootout.

This time, it was not meant to be,” he said.

Gusau reaffirmed the federation’s pride in the team’s performance at the tournament, highlighting the Super Eagles as the highest-scoring side so far.

“The NFF is proud of the output of the team at this championship.

“They gave their best and still remain the team to have scored the most goals here.

“We will talk to them to lift their morale and go for the bronze so that they will have something to show from a tournament in which they have done so well,” he added.