“We thank God we qualified at the end of the day but my boys did not pick up till the second half and I must say to you that I am happy and this is a great experience for a young side like the home based side”.
The former Stade D Abidjan libero admitted that his players were jittery at the start of the match which led to them conceding two quick goals in the first half but they woke up and gave a good account of themselves in the second.
[caption id="attachment_406337" align="alignright" width="302"]
RESILIENCE: Super Eagles Oladapo Olufemi (C) vies for the ball with Ivory Coast’s players during the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifying match on July 27, 2013 at the Robert-Champroux Stadium in Abidjan. Ivory Coast defeated Nigeria 2 - 0. Nigeria qualify on 4-3 aggregate. PHOTO AFP[/caption]“If you say it was a game of two halves I may tend to agree with you because we started poorly largely due to inexperience and then when we came into the game they struggled against us. But that is football, we are just grateful to God, the NFF and Nigerians that we made it for the first time to the CHAN tournament”.
Ivorian Coach, Saraka Norbert, who also spoke at the post match conference admitted that the Nigerian side were slightly more experienced than his side, even as he refused to blame the two red cards the team received in the first leg in Kaduna for his side’s ouster.
“Nigeria is a great country economically, socially and even in football and we must admit that when we get to their heights in the near future, Ivorian football will be great again”, he said.
