'Osimhen could have had a hat-trick' - Italian pundit explains why he's not concerned for Super Eagles 

Respected Italian pundit Gabriele Marcotti has explained why he's not concerned for the Super Eagles after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Equatorial Guinea in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations opener on Sunday, January 14.

The Nzalang Nacional broke the deadlock in the 36th minute through Iban Salvador whose well-placed shot beat goalkeeper Stanley Nwabili, but Nigeria got a quick response as Victor Osimhen leveled matters with a header after an excellent delivery from Ademola Lookman. 

Osimhen missed at least two chances to score the winning goal and the outstanding Equatorial Guinea glovesman Jesús Owono - rightly named the official Man of the Match - was at his best to deny fullbacks Ola Aina and Zaidu Sanusi from getting on the scoresheet. 

Gabriele Marcotti has underlined that he was not bothered that Nigeria dropped points in their opener because Equatorial Guinea are not as bad as they were said to be.

Speaking on ESPN's The Gab & Juls Show, he said: "I'm not concerned as some people will be because Equatorial Guinea are not a bad team, maybe a tiny country but they're a country with a lot of money.

"They're basically the Spaniards of Africa so they can all play and move the ball and on top of that the cross between Spaniards and really old school Italians because they are super defensive.

"I thought Nigeria had a bunch of chances. Osimhen could have had a hat-trick, Chukwueze as well when he came on. 

"I'm not so concerned about this, it would have been nice to beat them since people have a lot of doubts about Nigeria defensively short but I can live with this, just turn it on in the next game."

Sunday's result leaves Nigeria joint second in the Group A table with one point, two less than leaders Ivory Coast, who they face in a titanic game on Thursday.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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