Former Nigeria midfielder, Edema Fuludu, has said the Super Eagles need a psychological boost ahead of their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt in March.
Nigeria on Tuesday crashed out of Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship.
Fuludu, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Thursday said, “It was a sad thing to see Nigeria leave the CHAN in the group stages but there are still positives that we can take from the tournament as a country.
“The team played well against Tunisia but they were a shadow of themselves against Guinea. They showed a lack of hunger and a lot of things were wrong with the way they played.
“But not all failures are as a result of a coach’s tactical deficiencies. There are four ways a team prepares for a match or a competition. There is the physical preparation, which I think they got. There are the technical and tactical preparations, which the coach has and they showed in their first two matches. There is also the psychological preparation, which was missing in the team.
“It was obvious that their minds were occupied with things but one expected them to get their motivation from other sources. However, the NFF needs to work on adequate motivation for the team ahead of the 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers against Egypt.”