Coach of the U-23 national team, Samson Siasia, has revealed he has no information about Nigeria’s next opponents, Zambia, in the final qualifying round for the 2015 All-Africa Games.
Nigeria advanced to the final round after seeing off Gabon 6-1 on aggregate. The first leg fixture had ended 4-1 in Libreville a fortnight ago, while the return leg fixture in Abuja on Saturday ended 2-0.
Second half goals from Segun Oduduwa and Junior Ajayi ensured the victory which masked a rather lethargic display from the Nigerians in front of a handful of spectators at the National Stadium.
“I can’t say I know much about the Zambia U-23 team but we will get their videos and prepare for them because if you don’t know them, it will be a problem to play against them. We will get their clips and study them,” Siasia said.
The former Super Eagles coach admitted to journalists after the game that the encounter was difficult for his team because it was the first time they were playing a competitive match in Nigeria.
He said, “These young players are playing for the first time for Nigeria in Nigeria and you could see they wanted to make those passes but they couldn’t because they were a little bit jittery. I think with time they will come through because I’ve seen these boys play. In practice sessions, they’ve been better and they make better passes than what we saw.
“It’s all about getting their confidence high; we couldn’t have played like this and won in Gabon, it’s not possible. There’s a problem we have to fix; the players sometimes think the fans are too hostile, especially when they don’t score on time, but it wasn’t the case. These boys can do better than what they did on Saturday.”
Siasia added that there was still room for improvement in the team, hinting that he could make changes before their next game against Zambia on March 21 in Abuja.
“We haven’t finished (team building) yet because we are still a work in progress; if anyone comes in and makes more sense than what we have, we will definitely bring such a player in,” he said.
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