Stoke City coach happy Nigeria did not qualify for Nations cup

As Nigerians are watching the ongoing 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with mixed feelings due to the non-qualification of the Super Eagles for the continental football showpiece,

Stoke City Manager, Mark Hughes, has expressed his delight at the country’s misfortune. Hughes is a happy man because injured Nigerian forward, Victor Moses is back for Stoke instead of playing in Equatorial Guinea if Nigeria had qualified for AFCON 2015. The 24-year-old striker who got injured in November last year was on for 86 minutes as Stoke got a 1-0 win at Leicester City at the weekend to keep them 10th on the log. All other English Premier League teams with top African players are missing their stars, with Manchester City the worst hit due to the absence of Ivorian Yaya Toure. Toure is Africa’s best player for the fourth year running. “Before his (Victor Moses) injury he was arguably our best player so it is fair to say I did jump for joy it was a bonus for us. “It is unfortunate for Nigeria but sometimes you have to be a bit single minded, Hughes told Dailystar.co.uk. “We kept Victor back last week because he had only been with us for three or four days, and we didn’t want to put him at risk. “He came here and tore the place up really, when he first came in before his injury. “It is a difficult injury and you have to be mindful of them and it can come back, he continued. “He’s look strong and sharp in training and he’s looking forward to playing again. I think we all are looking forward to it because prior to his injury he was playing really well. “The key for Victor was to come to a club where he could get opportunities to show what he can do and we’ve given him that platform. “He’s grasped it with both hands and played exceptionally well so there’s no reason to think he won’t do that quickly again. “He didn’t get a pre-season but he hit the ground running so maybe that will be the case again,” Hughes concluded. But Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi, blamed the Super Eagles for not doing enough to qualify Nigeria for the on-going 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea. Defending champions Nigeria crashed out on the final day of the qualifying tournament when Eagles forced South Africa to a 2-2 draw at home in a match they needed to win and closest rivals Congo won in Sudan to qualify ahead of them. “We as players know we could have done more, and especially in the match against South Africa which we needed to win at home. But that is history now. We have learnt from it. We hope the authorities will also learn from it and we can get better,” said the Chelsea star. “Of course it is painful. We all wanted to be at the biggest stage in Africa, especially as we are the holders. But we all know many factors contributed to our inability to qualify, and the less said about it the better.”

Source:This day