Nigeria’s caretaker coach, Augustine Eguavoen has explained his reason for delaying the substitution of midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi during the second half of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, qualifier against the Republic of Benin on Saturday.
Ndidi paired fellow Premier League player, Alex Iwobi in the midfield against Benin.
The Leicester City star put up his best performance in a while for Nigeria but it came at a cost as he became fatigued.
In the second half, Ndidi was caught on camera signaling to the bench to be substituted, but Eguavoen opted to leave him on the pitch until the 80th minute when he was replaced by Raphael Onyedika.
Explaining why Ndidi’s substitution was delayed, Eguavoen said at his post-match press conference that he wanted to allow his replacement enough time to get fully warmed up before stepping onto the pitch.
“From the beginning of the second half, I told six players to warm-up, Onyedika was among them,” Eguavoen said.
“But we have to buy time, you don’t have to rush into changes because Republic of Benin today surprised me, a very good team.
“I watched them against us in Abidjan, they were not as good as this, so they came with a good game plan, today’s performance for them was very okay.
“I knew at some point we are going to sub Ndidi but somebody who is coming in has to be properly warmed and prepared.”
Eguavoen’s tactical decision to leave Nddi on the pitch paid off as the midfielder provided Victor Osimhen an assist.
Nigeria won the match 3-0, thanks to Ademola Lookman’s brace and Osimhen’s goal.
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