Coach of the Falconets, Chris Danjuma, has urged Nigerians to be patient and give the Super Eagles a chance, especially the present set of players.
Danjuma made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin, while reacting to the Eagles 0-2 loss to Croatia in the Group D opening match in the World Cup in Russia on Saturday.
He said the present crop of players, if given the chance, would take the world by storm in another year or two.
“We need to be a little patient with the team and it is very important; we must as a nation have developmental mentality.
“We must understand that this is the first time majority of these guys will be playing at this stage; some of them have never played even at the Nation’s Cup.
“Why don’t we give them room to develop? Why don’t we understand that this is a team for the future? I think that it we carry that mentality we will see progress in this team.
“From every great team you see today, there had been a level of building and progress; no team just became great today without going through this process.
“This team will play better as the tournament progresses; today, Iceland sprang a surprise; who says Nigeria cannot do that,” he stated.
Meanwhile, some sports stakeholders said they were impressed with the organization of the team as well as the overall performance.
One of them, Ibrahim Saliu, said inexperience was a deciding factor in the opening match.
He also blamed avoidable mistakes on the part of some of the Super Eagles players for the loss.
According to Saliu, though we had a good game, the eagles lost to inexperience and naivety.
“In spite of the loss, we still have a good chance of progressing from the group stage.”
Similarly, Aliu Alemma-Ozioruva, said the Eagles lacked a play maker who could have dictated the pace of the game and built confidence of the young players in the team.
While noting that the team had a good game, he said that the score was the only disappointing thing. (NAN)
