The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced it has taken the blame for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations failure. "The NFF takes full responsibility for what has happened," NFF president Amaju Pinnick said after the 2-2 home draw to South Africa on Wednesday. The title-holders will not play in Equatorial Guinea Championship in January after they finished third in Group A behind Bafana Bafana and Congo. "It is a tragedy for us to come so near and yet fail to reach the finals," Pinnick said. The Super Eagles caretaker Stephen Keshi confessed they had under-estimated their guests, who they have beaten every time since 1993. "Maybe we took South Africa for granted and we paid dearly for this," said Keshi. Hull City striker Sone Aluko, who scored both of Nigeria's goals, said the whole team was devastated. "I am disappointed, everybody is disappointed," he said. "We did not get the result we wanted and we now have to pick ourselves up as a team." (For more sports news and updates, follow AhramOnlineSports on Twitter at@AO_Sportsand on Facebook atAhramOnlineSports.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/116027.aspx