Oliseh ‘very proud’ of CHAN Eagles despite ouster

Despite failing to qualify for the knockout stage of the African Nations Championship, Sunday Oliseh, coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria says he is still very proud of his players, having played under some unfavourable circumstances.

Nigeria crashed out of the tournament on Tuesday after falling to a solitary Ibrahima Sankhol goal, but Oliseh, who is looking into the future, said after the match: “The way forward is that we will try to take the positives out of this. And we have certain players that we can integrate into the first complete team.

“I am still very proud of my boys. You have to look at the circumstances they had to work under, that is the circumstances by which I am saying I am very proud of them.”

Oliseh disagreed with those who think he gambled by not starting star striker Chisom Chikatara, saying: “It was not a gamble. The doctor gave Usman Mohammed green light this morning. But Chisom Chikatara did not get that much of a green light. So, the one who had the green light was the one I used.”

He also refused to accept that the substitution of Usman Mohammed, who is widely rated as the midfield motivator, affected the team.

“I don’t think it’s not every time I took him out of the game that the Nigeria midfield collapsed,” he said. “I think it is just a question of the fact that he is a very good player and that is it.”

Defending certain players who were singled out as weak links in the team, he said: “I think it is going to be very unfair to start singling out players.

“That is unfair. We lost as a team. We won as a team. I think the boys did their best but it was not meant to be.”

Oliseh concluded by choosing to look at the positive sides to the championship.

“Nigerians should be proud of the boys. In as much as we wanted to go much more further, we are by sorry that we couldn’t got further and make them happy but they should be proud of the boys because of the way the boys comported themselves in the first and second game. Even in this game, but that is how it is,” he said.

“There are lots of positives we picked from this tournament. You saw the way we played the first game. The way we played the second game. And you saw the flashes sometimes here today. Reality is that morally, we had to struggle a bit.”

Also speaking, goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa apologised to Nigerians for the team’s inability to make it to the quarter finals.

“I feel bad. I never thought we were going to lose this way because we worked hard to do well for our country,” he said.

“Losing at this time is a very bad result for us. But it is one of those things in football. Sometimes, hard luck. I just give God the glory for everything.

“My message to Nigerians is that we know that we disappointed them. It is a bad one for us after winning the first game, drawing the second one and we now lost the third game. So, my message to them is that they should just sympathise with us and pray to make up for this some other time by the grace of God.

“I think from the start of the game. I think we missed some chances that we could have converted. That worked against us. Like I said earlier, a game of football you sometimes win, draw or you lose. That is just it.”