THE Honourable Minister for Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung has expressed regret over the preliminary stage ouster of Nigeria at the ongoing 2016 Championship of African Nations in Rwanda.
Speaking exclusively with Sunday SunSports yesterday at the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos, the Plateau state born administrator blamed the players for being too complacent at the tournament.
“The boys had all the necessary preparations and we were optimistic that they were going there to perform very well. It’s quite sad that they became complacent after having a good start. It’s a lesson they have to accept and correct next time”
Nigeria started strongly with an emphatic 4-1 thrashing of Northern neighbours, Niger as a Chisom Chikatara’s hattrick sent message of intent to other countries.
After a 1-1 draw against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, the Eagles fumbled as they lost by a lone goal to Guinea. However, the minister who got to the start point of the Lagos City Marathon early before the commencement of the race promised to correct the mistakes made with the squad that represented the country in Rwanda and also support the home-based Eagles in the their bid to win the CHAN tournament in future.
“The psychological aspect of football would be worked upon in subsequent tournaments as we hope to avoid a repeat of the dismal outing in Rwanda. The boys are good but they thought they have conquered all the teams with the win against Niger. We’ll work on the mistakes before the next championship.”
The CHAN 2016 tournament comes to an end today as the Democratic Republic of Congo confronts Mali in the final match in Kigali, Rwanda.
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