Eric Chelle has revealed that a ‘small injury’ prevented Victor Osimhen from taking a penalty in Nigeria’s shootout defeat to Morocco in the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday night.
The match ended goalless after 90 minutes and extra time with few clear-cut chances for either side.
Osimhen, who has scored four goals during Nigeria’s Afcon campaign, was surprisingly substituted in the closing stages of extra time with Paul Onuachu replacing the Super Eagles captain for the shootout.
Onuachu scored his penalty but Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved two efforts from Samuel Chukwueze and Bruno Onyemaechi before Youssef En-Nesyri stepped up to convert his spot-kick to secure a 4-2 win for the tournament hosts.
Morocco will now make their first appearance in an Afcon final since 2004 as they play Senegal on Sunday evening.
When asked about the decision to substitute Osimhen before the shootout, Chelle said: ‘So since the beginning of this Africa Cup of Nations, every day at every training session we have done penalty sessions and statistically the players who took the penalties were the best, and that’s why we made changes to bring in the players who were going to shoot. Chukwueze came on to take his penalty and even though he didn’t score.
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‘So when we saw the match was heading towards penalties, it was when we brought in the players who were shooting the best.
‘Victor had a small injury to his ankle and that’s why we brought in Paul, who statistically was one of the best shooters of this period.’
Nigeria will now play Egypt in the game to determine third place on Saturday.
Chelle was also unsure over his own future after Nigeria’s semi-final defeat.
‘My future, now, I don’t know, I’m the coach of Nigeria, maybe in a few days my president will tell me, ‘it’s finished for you’ or, ‘you have to continue’, so I don’t know,’ Chelle said.
‘Now I try to analyse this game, this Afcon we have a last game against Egypt, I’m proud of my players but I’m disappointed for them because the reality is maybe we were the best team, maybe, in this Afcon, we go out with pride.
‘So the question about my situation, no, we have to stay focused on the third game [against Egypt] and we have to win this game.’
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