TheCable

Nigeria’s U-23 team coach, Samson Siasia, has accepted blame for the Dream Team semi-final loss to Burkina Faso at the 11th African Games football tournament in Congo-Brazzaville.

Burkina Faso defeated Nigeria 3-1 on Tuesday to qualify for the final of the football event against Senegal. And Siasia points the finger of blame at himself.

“I am not a man of excuses,” he said.

“I take all the blame for this collapse and will certainly make amends before the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations.

“We will make corrections after the All-Africa Games. I plan to travel to talk to some players I have already pencilled down, then hopefully, the team should be assembling in first week of October to prepare for the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations. Certainly, some of the players I brought to Congo Brazzaville will have to give way.”

‎The coach, though, couldn’t help recalling the 3-1 loss.

“I never imagined losing to Burkina Faso, but then my midfielders played so well, my defenders and attackers let me down, can you imagine my attackers not being able to convert about eight chances that came their way?

“To make matters worse, the defenders were asleep on a day they should have been up and doing. Who told the central defenders to keep offside trap the way they did? I am totally disappointed; we can’t play like this in Senegal and expect to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. No way!

“We were so bad that anytime the ball beat the defenders, even my goalkeeper could not stop any of the shots fired at him. Football is a team work where errors are bound to occur, but it’s the ability of fellow team mates to cover for one another that makes a team great, that I didn’t see today.”

The team will now face hosts Congo for the bronze medal.