THE president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has bemoaned the ill fortune suffered by Nigeria against Egypt.
Pinnick also stated that the country will now shift their focus to qualifying for the 2018 World Cup amid calls for him to resign after the Super Eagles were ousted from AFCON 2017.
Nigeria under the leadership of Pinnick will not feature for the second straight time at the AFCON after they were ousted by Egypt in Alexandria on Tuesday night.
Egypt are now in pole position to feature at Gabon 2017 after they pipped Nigeria 1-0 to now have seven points.
Nigeria are second with two points, while Tanzania are bottom on a point.
Tanzania host Egypt in June and then visit Nigeria in September to conclude Group G after Chad withdrew from the qualifying series.
“We are all disappointed we did qualify (for AFCON 2017),” said Pinnick.
“The god of soccer did not smile on us.
“I believe Nigerians should forgive us for us to move on.
“The focus now is to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“We will keep the Eagles busy during the FIFA friendly windows ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.”
The draw for Russia 2018 will be conducted in June with the qualifying tournament to begin in October.