Daily Independent (Lagos)
Uzor Odigbo
21 November 2008
Former Super Eagles Assistant Coach, Joe Erico, has said that Super Eagles should not be ashamed of losing 0-1 to Colombia in a friendly on the premise that the experience was a good one for the team.
Erico noted that playing against Colombia has advantages and one of them being that of facing a side with high quality football tradition, stressing that Eagles players and coaches may have learnt lots of things, which many might not realise at the moment.
Nigeria, he said, should even be losing in friendly matches as winning may bring false confidence that might hunt the team when the 2010 qualifiers begin.
"Coaches and players, who understand what they want to achieve with international friendly matches, are not bothered when the team loses in a friendly, because building a team for tournaments has its own wear and tear. So losing to Colombia, for me, was a good result and fine start for the team," he said.
He said the character of a team lies in the ability of each player raising his game and when that is lacking as was witnessed on the team, cracks develop.
"Most players did not quite raise their game and it affected the team, but don't forget that the opposition was formidable and having had long flight from their different destinations, the players are bound to get tired. This maybe why some of them did not live up to expectation.
Players like Ikechukwu Uche, Obinna Nsofor, Isa Keita did well, but could not raise their game to a level where the team could leverage on them. Nwankwo Kanu's influence registered on the team and it paid off at certain point during the encounter," he added.
He said the goal Colombia scored was not contestable, but was surprised when Keita was set to contest the goal. He added that players' duty was to play the game and leave officiating to the officials. It is another lesson to learn from the encounter, he said.
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