CHAN 2016: Coach Oliseh defends Players Despite Poor performance

Coach Sunday Oliseh has said his players have given a good
image of themselves despite their group stage exit at the
2016 African Nations Championship.

Ibrahima Sankhon’s first half strike dashed the hopes of the
Super Eagles reaching the quarter final of the competition
despite staying atop Group C after their first two matches.

And, despite his disappointment at his side's narrow failure,
Oliseh believes that his wards can be proud of themselves
for their efforts.

“Personally, I’m very proud of the boys, they have given a
good image of themselves in as much as that we did not go
through,” Oliseh said after the game.

“Africans will look at Nigeria in a brighter light. Is not a
question of the tactics we chose for the game, we told the
players to play well.

“We came out to win with a plan to stay compact and when
we have the ball to play. Today [against Guinea], when we
had the ball we didn’t play.

“The players are humans and at some point they break, and
that is what happened. All I can say is that my players are
humans and there is a limit that they can hold. For some
morals reasons, they couldn’t find it.

“What did not go right is the fact that I think [against
Guinea] somewhere inside it was difficult for the players to
overcome some moral difficulties they have come across.

“This is an adult tournament and there are certain things
which must be present if you want to go far and win the
tournament, and that is what my players see is existing in
other teams that we don’t have in our team,” he concluded.

Nigeria first third in their debut outing at the 2014 African
Nations Championship in South Africa, and came to Rwanda
with the ambition of winning their first title.