Our biggest challenge was fatigue. We were tired and also we missed some of our players too. We played a crucial game on a horrible pitch in Madagascar, that took a lot out of the boys’ legs.

Then we flew 14 hours to Bangladesh, arrived around 4pm, trained around 7:30pm and played a game 24 hours later. That’s two games in three days.

But all the same, we agreed to play the match, so that is not an excuse. The boys did the best they could. They made some mistakes they shouldnt have, especially when they gave the ball away to Argentina. Like unforced errors. We shouldnt be doing that stuff playing against a team like that.

That was why we got punished.

I guess we have to learn from these mistakes. The boys are doing very well and learning from their mistakes. Games like these will let us know how to play against big opposition, playing against top teams in the world. We welcome the game, we are not happy with the result, but we know its part of our building process.

On new players who started

Fengor was awesome, outstanding. Having been bringing him to camp all these days, we knew his potential, and he actually showed us how good he is. He’ll still improve, but he can only get better.
Brown did very well, I was surprised. he was very energetic. Kept the ball like he was supposed to, just as we discussed.

He did very well, even though he didnt get the opportunity to create a chance for hismelf to shoot at goal. The way he played, I was impressed. I think we have a lot of good strikers we can depend on.
Solomon didnt play a good game. I dont know why he shut down. He was talking about how he had to fall back to help Chibuzor defend.

Sometimes in a big game like this, you have to show yourself and he didnt. But it wasn’t his day. he’s still a good player and this is just one game. I’m sure he’ll bounce back.

Obasi was wonderful. he’s a good player, but sometimes he has to be more purposeful in his dribbles because he does a little too much. If he cuts out the excess, he’ll be even better. But I was also very impressed with him.

Ekpo also showed in the few minutes that he was on, that we will have a problem selecting midfielders for the team. He also impressed me. I have known him since the Olympics and I know what he can do. What he needs to do now is build his confidence and understand the way we want the team to play.

On Mikel and the captain’s band

He handled the captain’s band very well. Even though he was very tired, he did the best that he could. If the guys start to talk as much as they should on the field, the mistake he made could have been avoided because they could have told him to pass the ball before Messi took the ball away from him.

But its okay, he’ll learn from his mistake. He has done that twice already. We’ll play back the tape and let him know that sometimes if you keep the ball too long this is what will happen to you.