The
national U23 team coach Samson Siasia has said he will overhaul his
defence after the African champions lost 2-0 to Colombia in their last
group match in the Rio Games on Wednesday in Sao Paulo.
Siasia told The PUNCH after the match, “We still have a long way to
go if we are to win a medal here but we must achieve by working hard and
reducing our errors. We don’t want to go back home now or soon; we want
to be on the pitch until the last game here.”
The former Super Eagles manager blamed the changes he made for the
loss to the South Americans. He acknowledged that his defence was still
worrisome.
He said, “Of course when you make too many changes, it won’t work the
way you expected. If you lose, you go home, so all those mistakes we
have been making mostly in the backline have to be corrected. We didn’t
do a good job on the Colombian forwards. We really have to work harder
on our defending.
“In the first half, we had a couple of good chances and Etebo had a
very good one that he should have scored. But one good thing about him
is that he always put himself in good positions. He didn’t score today;
that’s football. Hopefully, in the next game, we can convert our chances
and defend better.”
He added, “Colombia has always been a good team, in spite of the
challenges they faced before coming to the Olympics. All the teams at
this tournament are good; you just have to take your chances when you
have them. The Colombians took their chances against us and are now in
the quarter-finals.”
The team left Sao Paulo on Thursday morning for Salvador, where they will face Denmark at the Arena Fonte Nova on Saturday.
Punch
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