The Head Coach of the Tunisia’s Carthage Eagles, Mondher Kebaier, has said his players were determined to win the Round of 16 clash with Super Eagles regardless of the absence of some players due to COVID.
He stated this during the press conference after the 1-0 victory over the Super Eagles.
“As we said before, we had prepared well; we had mastered our skills to counter the Nigerian team. We believed in ourselves.
“We had the desire to win and knew we had to put in a lot of efforts. We tried to win to score a goal and succeeded in doing that.
“We knew Nigeria had fast wingers and we came up with specific tactics and had to put pressure on the wingers.
“We trusted the group despite the COVID cases. We didn’t need players but competitors. We wish Nigeria well but we deserve to win,” he said.
In the same vein, Super Eagles coach, Augustine Eguavoen, said they did their best to win the game while lamenting over the missed chances..
“We came here with mission. I can’t really fault these boys. They fought it for it but it was not meant to be.
“The goal came from a mistake and that was their best chance at goal. The Tunisians formed a low block and was difficult to break down,” he said.
He, however. blamed the players for not moving ball quickly while saying the red card given to Alex Iwobi wasn’t fair.
“Iwobi red card was not fair. His challenge was a first offence but the referee who is a gentleman is an expert in that field. We didn’t move the ball quicker and operating from the sides was difficult,” he said.