23 January 2008
Lagos — Danny Shittu is still optimistic the Super Eagles will beat Mali Friday and then Benin to qualify for the next stage of the Africa Cup of Nations.
"We are disappointed we did not win on Monday even though we thought we deserved at least a point from the game but there is still life after the loss," Shitu told KickOffNigeria.com.
"We have a game against Mali in a couple of days that we have to win if we want to progress," Shittu said.
The big Watford defender did well on Monday shutting out both Didier Drogba and Aruna Dindane and having enough time to put pressure on the Ivorien defence during dead ball situations.
"We are disappointed. Everybody is disappointed but we must get things right in the next game and we must be together because unity is key here."
Meanwhile, Super Eagles forward Osaze Odemwingie believes Nigeria will have a difficult time progressing to the next stage after Monday's 1-0 loss to Cote d'Ivoire.
Nigeria play Mali on Friday and need a win to have any realistic chance of going through to the next stage and Odemwingie believes that Nigeria has an uphill task coming out of the difficult Group B.
"We need to win the Cup and I believe we will but we must consider the fact that we are in a very difficult group.
"Mali also won against Benin and we need to beat the Malians to go through. We can pick up the pieces against Mali and if we do that it will be a big achievement because of our group that is a very difficult one.
"I know we will qualify and then see how far we go," he added.
Odemwingie gave thumbs up to Cote d'Ivoire for their organised play in the game but said they were more defensive in their approach.
"I will give credit to them because they were very organised but they played more defensively, maybe because of our own quality so they wanted to be cautious and I must say that this was a very difficult game for us because Cote d'Ivoire are one of the best teams today in Africa but we must win the Cup this time because that is all we want.
"I thought we deserved at least a point from the game and no one is happy we lost because we played very well to get at least one point."
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