Home-based Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle has described the 4-0 defeat to Sudan in the African Nations Championship as the worst ever match he has managed.
Nigeria crashed out of the competition following the scandalous defeat with one game to go.
The team suffered a 1-0 defeat to Senegal in their opening match before going down to Sudan, they are yet to score in the competition while also remaining pointless.
Chelle, who was drafted in by the Nigeria Football Federation to handle the team for the competition after the duo of Daniel Ogunmodede, and Fidelis Ilechukwu led the team to qualify for the competition.
The French-born manager was disappointed with the team’s performance in the encounter, admitting that their ambition had ended.
Chelle said: “We have lost all ambition. The CHAN is over for us. We have a third match to play for our honour and respect. But I am disappointed by this match. It is the worst game I’ve overseen from the dugout as a coach.
“Though some important players left our preparations camp, these were the best players in our league. We can’t play a game like that and lose in the manner we did. We need to be more focused.
“The players focused in the first 20 minutes. Our goal was ruled out, and afterwards, we made a lot of mistakes… 4 mistakes, 4 goals. Our training session before the game went well. We analyzed Sudan’s team. We prepared well, but were not ready for as many mistakes.”
Meanwhile, Sudan coach Kwesi Appiah was surprised with the result of the encounter.
He said: “I was surprised with the performance of some of my players. If you noticed, my changes came deep into the second half because everyone was playing really well.
“We knew it was going to be tough, especially the first 20 minutes. Our tactical play was to absorb pressure and hit them on the counter.
“I wasn’t expecting the scoreline, but I knew if we played our best, we could defeat Nigeria. I think the home-based Super Eagles aren’t that bad. On the whole, tactically, they played well.
“The coach only needs to do some polishing with the attack. The first game against Senegal wasn’t that bad; in the second game, they had stints of possession, but our approach helped us.”
Up next for Sudan is a top of the table clash with Senegal in the last group game while Nigeria will play Congo in a dead rubber encounter on Tuesday.
