Legendary Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba says Nigeria showed their true football identity despite losing 1-2 to Argentina and crashing out of the ongoing Russia 2018 World Cup.
Drogba was a guest analyst for the game, which ended in favour of the Argentines courtesy of a late goal from Marcos Rojo after Victor Moses cancelled out Lionel Messi’s opener.
According to the Ivorian star, Nigeria should have buried at least one of the chances missed by top striker Odion Ighalo to put themselves in a comfortable position before the late goal by Argentina.
He also faulted the decision of the referee not to award a penalty to Nigeria for a handball by Marcos Rojo in the box despite using the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to have a second view of the incident, which would have given Nigeria the chance to go 2-1 up from the spot.
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”I think it’s a bad decision from the referee [to not give Nigeria a second penalty]. It’s the defender’s mistake – he didn’t read the ball well. It’s difficult to give the penalty because it would take Argentina out of the competition.
”Nigeria gave everything. But I’m disappointed because they did have the chances to score and kill the game through Ighalo. They will have some regrets about the first game they played against Croatia but against Iceland and today, we saw the real Nigeria”, Drogba said.
Daniel Martins
