Next match will be better – Sunday Oliseh

 

Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh has described the 0-0 draw against Tanzania as satisfactory while promising Nigerians that the next game will be better than what was seen of the Super Eagles against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on Saturday in Dar es Salaam.
Oliseh who spoke with reporters said he was okay that his team did not lose the game given the short time they have been together so far.

He said, “I can describe the match as a game of two halves because we struggled in the first half but came back strongly in the second half containing the Tanzanians, who also played very well.

“We only had two days to train together just as Ahmed (Musa) said and I am impressed with the way we played even though the striking was blunt but I am optimistic we will work on those mistakes step by step.

“This is far better than game that what we had in Abuja on Wednesday as our first friendly match. With what I have seen of this outing and the period leading to this match, I can confidently say that the third game will be better. And that’s what we’ll keep doing with subsequent matches.”

On Saturday, it was glaring that the Super Eagles had problems with their midfield as soon as the match started.

“Our midfield was not covered properly that is why I decided to do some early changes but I don’t want to point at any player.

“Things did not work as planned that’s why I decided to make the change but I don’t want to be negative because I will have time to talk to the player and see how we can correct the mistakes we saw but if we hadn’t made that early change, we would have lost,” the former Nigeria captain said.

“In the second half, we organised ourselves better but lacked that quality supply from the midfield to the attack. But we will get better as we progress.

“We have to continue to build the team. We barely had two good days of training before this match so I am happy with the one point.”

The coach was also full of praise for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ goalkeeper, Carl Ikeme, who won his first cap for the team in Dar es Salam when the media unofficially named him Man-of-Match.

Oliseh said, “I don’t like to single out players from the team but I have to admit that Carl Ikeme had a great game for us today. It can’t be described decent as you just said; that will be unfair. I think Carl had a very fantastic debut today.”

The Eagles will play their next match in the qualifiers against Egypt at home in March 2016. Egypt defeated Chad 5-1 on Sunday to maintain leadership of the group.

Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh has described the 0-0 draw against Tanzania as satisfactory while promising Nigerians that the next game will be better than what was seen of the Super Eagles against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania on Saturday in Dar es Salaam.