It was the end of the road for Nigeria in the men’s football event of the 2023 African Games as the Flying Eagles were beaten 3-2 by Senegal at Accra Sports Stadium late Friday’s night, reports TheNATION newspaper.
The coach Ladan Bosso-led side needed an outright win to book a semi final spot having secured just three points from their two previous matches.
It was looking like the Nigerian lads meant business when they took the lead as early as the second minute through Charles Agada.
However, Idrissa Traore equalised for Senegal in the 21st minute when his low shot beat the Nigerian goalkeeper.
Traore was to grab his brace six minutes later to put the Senegalese ahead for the first time in the encounter watched by Nigeria’s Minister for Sports Development, Senator John Owan Enoh.
Chibuzor Izuogu yet put Nigeria into the game when he equalised to make it 2-2 through a brilliant free kick.
But Pape Diouf broke the hearts of Nigerians after he converted from the spot for the winning goal to send Senegal to the semi finals.
After the match, Bosso said he was disappointed at the result and admitted that he was not given enough time to select the best for the team.
“I’m disappointed because this game was the best we have played so far in this tournament,” he said.” I didn’t have enough time to scout for players and what I did was to watch few games in Uyo and other places .That’s where I saw the two Enyimba players, Daga and Chibueze ”
Going forward, Bosso believes lessons have be learned especially in the area of preparing early for major tournaments.
He said: “The lesson is that we need to prepare very well for future tournaments.
“The idea of preparing for a tournament in 13 days is really not the best
“But we can take positives from the fact that some players in this squad can be nurtured for the future and possibly play for the national team
“We tried to improve from match to match. The game we played against Senegal was probably our best game of the tournament so far but it’s just unfortunate that we lost,” a crestfallen Bosso noted.
Senegal 3-2 Nigeria : Bosso Laments Poor Preps As Flying Eagles Crashed Out Of African Games
