The senior national team of Nigeria were beaten 1-2 by the host of the Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire in the final of the tournament played on the 11th of February in Abidjan, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria defeated the Ivorians 1-0 in their second group game but despite taking the lead in the final lost 1-2 late on leaving many people to criticize the approach of the Nigerian team in the game, where they defended deep and allowed the host to have more of the ball.
Looking back at the defeat, Finidi George who was one of the assistants of head coach Jose Peseiro reveals where he thinks the game was lost. “The formation has to be upgraded at every given time. Every time you are in a tournament or score a goal, you try to do something else. We have to upgrade what we have done so far,” Finidi explained.
He went further to say, “I think it is a lesson. After our goal, we defended too deep. Moving forward, we have to push that formation. We have to push it a little bit further instead of going behind. We need to go a little bit further so we don’t struggle to win games. That’s what the coach will do. He saw it, too. So we have to be better on that.”
Ade Emmanuel
