The home-based Super Eagles will now miss out of the party at the CHAN 2020 in Cameroon in spite of a 2-0 win against Togo at the Agege Stadium in Lagos.
The Nigerian side put on a spirited effort to overturn the 1-4 first leg deficit, but they failed and thus lost 3-4 aggregate.
The Eagles had to ring seven changes from the players who featured in Lome and were soon rewarded with two goals, courtesy Sikiru Alimi’s brace in the 4th and 66th minutes.
The Togolese had a seven-man defence which was able to contain the attacking trio of Sikiru Alimi, Sunusi Ibrahim and Nyima Nwagua.
The two goals from the boots of Alimi were not enough as the Togolese held on till the last minutes of the game through a well-organised defence and time-wasting tactics.
Speaking later on the painful loss, Imama Amapakabo said the Eagles lost the match due to unavailability of some important players for the team.
“We lost and that was painful for everybody. The two games were completely different from each other and the tactics were also different.
“The opposing team came with the tactics of defending through putting in more defenders while we want to have our goals.
“The seven changes in the team for the second leg was due to the non-availability of the Rangers International players for the first leg,” he said.
