Former Nigeria international Victor Agali has said he is satisfied with Sunday Oliseh’s debut as handler of the country’s senior national team.
The Super Eagles played out a 0-0 draw with hosts Tanzania in Saturday’s Group G African Cup of Nations qualifier played at the Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar-es-Salaam – a result which puts the former African champions in second place behind leaders Egypt.
According to the former Schalke 04 star, it was a great start for coach Sunday Oliseh in his first game in charge of the senior national team owing to some positives.
“It was a good start for Sunday Oliseh. Let’s forget the fact that we played a draw, there were a lot of positives from that game,” Agali told Goal.
“You would discover that we assembled a relatively young team, faces and if you see the way they played and worked together as a group, it is glaring that the future of the Super Eagles is very bright.
He then went on to stress that Nigeria will qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon but insists it would not come on a platter of gold.
“There is no cause for alarm,” he continued. “We can get a point in Egypt and hope we beat them when they visit us here in Nigeria.
“We should be sincere with ourselves qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations will not be an easy one for the Eagles, but I can assure you we will qualify. All we need to do is ensure our team improves.”
Nigeria face Niger Republic in Tuesday’s international friendly in Port Harcourt and Agali noted some grey areas that need correction from the technical crew.
He added: “I’m not expecting so many changes , all I want to is the number of our players upfront when we launch an attacking move. That will make it easier for us to get goal. Against the Tanzanians, we had few players upfront and that was why we couldn’t score.
“Our central defenders need to be very careful too because in our last game they gave away too many scoring opportunities. If the Tanzanians had good strikers, they should have punished us.
“These are the key areas Oliseh and his technical crew must correct when we face Niger Republic,” he concluded.
Posted by by Janice Johnson
