Clean Sheet Excites Ejide -Recalls AFCON Ouster Nightmare Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel goalkeeper, Austin Ejide is basking in the euphoria of his ability to weather the storm last weekend in a league encounter and ensure his side did not concede a goal, but admits he cannot stop thinking about the nightmare of Nigeria not being able to qualify to defend their title at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. While admitting how excited he was to avoid conceding a goal in action with his club in their 4-0 win over Maccabi Netanya in the Israeli Premier League at the weekend, Ejide also stated delight with the effort of fellow-Nigerian, John Ugochukwu Ogu (Suker), who scored in the encounter. Ejide, tough, continues to lament Nigerias inability to qualify for the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea and revealed that he and other players in the Eagles were truly hurt for not beating South Africa in Uyo. He stressed that his biggest regret this year is that Nigeria could not pick the ticket to defend their AFCON title in Malabo and, while admitting he will have to concentrate fully on his club career for now, he enjoined the country’s sportswriters to be more positive in reporting events about their foreign-based players. The former Gabros International of Nnewi, Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, Bastia of France and Hapoel Petah Tikva of Israel shot-stopper stated: “It was a very important match for us because we lost our last game away to Tel Aviv. “We needed to respond and we did just that. Im happy not to have conceded a goal in the game. Its not my first time of keeping a clean sheet but unfortunately, some of you (journalists) only take delight in seeing the down fall of people. “The other day I read on the internet that Ejide concedes 10th goal of the season. I was surprised, but have they recalled that were second on the table with 21 points and plus 13 goals? “Did they find out how many games weve played and how consistent one has been all through the season so far. But football can be funny, unpredictable and we have seen the odd side of it today. “It’s unbelievable, disheartening we will miss the AFCON next year. It’s a bitter pill for us to swallow. It’s a very bitter lesson for us not going to the Nations Cup next year. It’s very sad, painful. “We did our best to win (against South Africa) but the victory couldnt come. We thought were going to make it even though we didnt start (the qualifiers) well. “After we won in Congo, it looked were going to qualify but unfortunately the draw with South Africa has made it impossible for us to qualify. “It’s hard to explain what really went wrong. Im sure every one of us played his heart out aiming for a win because we all wanted to be at the Nations Cup next year.”
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 19:50:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015