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| Eagles' coach Rohr |
The result means that Nigeria will play the Round of 16 encounter as runner-up of Group B, while Madagascar top the group.
The then group leaders started on the wrong footing as Leon Balogun failed to deal with a routine back-pass.
News Agency of Nigeriz reported that Madagascar scored their first goal in the 13th minute following a defensive blunder by Leon Balogun which saw Lalaina Nomenjanahary snatching the ball to score their first goal.
The Eagles missed some scoring chances and failed to respond adequately to the Madagascar team.
Samuel Kalu fluffed a great pass by Ahmed Musa in the 19th minute.
Musa himself, left with the goalkeeper to beat as a pass found him in the penalty box, bungled with a poor first touch.
His subsequent attempt to dribble the goalkeeper failed.
In the second half, instead of working hard to get on level terms in no time, Nigeria quickly found themselves further behind.
That was when substitute Wilfred Ndidi deflected a free-kick by Carolus Andrea past a wrong-footed goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa.
A deep soul–searching is now imminent in the Nigeria camp after such a flat performance.
This is the first time Madagascar would be participating the Africa Cup of Nations and they are rated lower than 100th in the world.
Captain Mikel Obi, who played his 89th match for the Eagles, was a shadow of himself, while Alex Iwobi made no difference when he came on.
Moses Simon and Wilfred Ndidi brought no spark or innovation on board when they were introduced.
Madagascar finished the group stage unbeaten having scored two goals from dead-ball situations.
Eagles are expected to play their Round of 16 encounter at the same venue on Saturday.
Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo said: “I think this is a wake-up call for us, today, we played very poorly, we were relaxed and our mentality was not very good.
“Probably it is because we were already qualified but this game has shown us that there is no easy team in this competition.
“We have to go back, regroup and ensure we do well for the next game which is a match with no room for mistakes,” Ighalo told reporters.
The Shanghai Shehua frontman has scored just once in his three appearance
Super Eagles' coach Gernot Rohr admitted his players were not good enough after their disappointing 2-0 defeat against Madagascar at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on Sunday.
In his assessment of the team’s display, Rohr said his players were ‘relaxed’ but was not surprised by the result.
“We lost to a good team because Madagascar was the first to qualify for the tournament and there is no shame in losing to such a team,” Rohr said after the game.
“Madagascar was the better team today. We started with giving them a gift and after, we could not find a solution. We made five changes because we wanted to give a rest to some players and also preserve those with cards.
“Sometimes it happens when you are already qualified; the players are relaxed and playing easy.”
In Group A, Egypt maintained their 100% record by beating Uganda 2-0 to become the first host nation since Ghana in 2008 to win their first three games.
Mohammed Salah scored an exquisite freekick before El Mohammady secured all three points for the host nation.
Elsewhere, Cedric Bakambu scored a brace as DR Congo beat Zimbabwe 4-0 to send the warriors packing.
They however wait to know their fate as to whether they finish as one of the best 3rd placed teams.
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