Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Eguavoen says their is no basis to compare Almeria striker Sadiq Umar with his international teammate Taiwo Awoniyi of Union Berlin.
Sadiq has played second fiddle to the Union Berlin forward who scored his first goal at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Nigeria’s 3-1 win over Sudan in what was his second consecutive start.
In both games, Sadiq was introduced as a substitute for Awoniyi but he is still yet to find his rythm leading to calls for him to be axed but Eguavoen has defended the lanky striker. He said the team doesn’t rely on the strikers for goals, naming Joe Aribo as one of the players with the responsibility to score goals for the team.
“Sadiq and Awoniyi are different type of players, that doesn’t mean they can’t score goals. Awoniyi has been scoring goals in the German League, same with Sadiq. The good thing is that we aren’t giving responsibility for one player to score goals. We have given Aribo the freedom to score goals. He has done that very well. Anybody in this team can score. We are trying to play to our strengths”, he explained.
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Last season the 24 year old finished as top scorer in the Spanish second division with 20 goals from 40 games aside the six goals he scored at Partizan Belgrade before his move on transfer deadline day last season.
He is in line for his first start of the tournament when Nigeria take on Guinea Bissau in their final group game which is a dead rubber tie for the Nigerian team, who are certain to finish as group winners.
