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nigerians say sorry

Nigeria's goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama commits a foul on South Korea's Park Ji-sung to receive a yellow card during the 2010 World Cup Group B soccer match at Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban June 22, 2010. REUTERS/Paul Hanna (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: SPORT SOCCER WORLD CUP)
Nigeria's goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama commits a foul on South Korea's Park Ji-sung to receive a yellow card during the 2010 World Cup Group B soccer match at Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban June 22, 2010. REUTERS/Paul Hanna (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: SPORT SOCCER WORLD CUP)

THE Super Eagles have apologised to the Nigerians and the entire African continent for their shock exit from the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

THE Super Eagles have apologised to the Nigerians and the entire African continent for their shock exit from the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Nigeria pocketed only one point from their three Group B matches after a 2-all draw with South Korea on Tuesday night. The West Africans were defeated 1-0 by a Lionel Messi-led Argentina and 2-1 by Greece in their opening two matches.

Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama said the once-feared Super Eagles were devastated to have bombed out in the first round, a repeat of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.

"We are really sorry and we should have done better as a team," said Enyeama, who won two man of the match awards at the tournament. "We have let down Nigeria and the whole continent because there were high expectations from us in the World Cup, considering it is the first World Cup staged in Africa.

"We apologise for our failure to proceed to the knockout stages and wish the remaining African teams the best of luck in the tournament."

Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback, who was roped in by the Football Association of Nigeria only at the end of February, is equally disappointed.

"We failed to convert easy scoring opportunities and we should have done better in this tournament. We deserved to get something out of our matches against Argentina and Greece," he said.

Nigerian soccer great Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha advised the federation to extend Lagerback's contract to allow him more time to work with the team. "It is embarrassing for Nigeria not to go through to the second round," he said.

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