*Despite 2-1 Victory Over Tanzania
*’Next Game Vs Tunisia Will Be Huge’
*Ajayi Named Man of the Match
After preliminary scrutiny of Super Eagles’ narrow 2-1 win over Tanzania’s Taifa Stars on Tuesday, 23 December, at the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Fes, Morocco, the Nigerian national team’s head coach Eric Chelle returned a personal verdict: There is still work to do on this squad.
The match was Nigeria’s first in this year’s edition of the continental soccer tournament and,though the Super Eagles kicked off their Group C campaign with a victory, Chelle is obviously not totally convinced.
Goals in each half from Semi Ajayi and Ademola Lookman gave the Super Eagles the perfect start.
Kokola M’mombwa cancelled out Ajayi’s opener with a brilliant equaliser, beating the offside trap to slot past goalie Stanley Nwabali.
Speaking in his post-match media briefing, Chelle praised his players but admitted they will need to work on their lapses ahead of the game against Tunisia,who are rated one of the best teams in Africa,having qualified for the World Cup without conceding a goal.
He said: “We have to analyse this win because we did a lot of good things in the first half; we created chances to score and in the second half we gave Tanzania the chance to come back into the game.
“We did some mistakes but we are happy for the win and the most important thing at the AFCON is to improve in every game.
“So now after the analysis we will do in the morning, we have to continue to improve because we will face Tunisia next who are a big team.
“We need to improve on a lot of things defensively, put in more movement when we have the ball and when we don’t. So I praise my players for the win but we have lots of work.”
Ajayi Named Man of the Match
Semi Ajayi was named Man of the Match award following the hard-fought victory.
Ajayi gave the Super Eagles the lead from a header in the 36th minute after he was set up by a superb cross from Fulham midfielder Alex Iwobi.
It was the centre-back’s second international goal for the three-time African champions.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Super Eagles…on Tuesday.
