Ivory Coast deserve to lose – Oliseh

Posted by admin Headlines, Soccer, Sports Monday, February 4th, 2013

Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, is blaming the Elephants of Ivory Coast for their loss to Nigeria in the quarter-final match on Sunday, saying star players Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba were lackadaisical in their approach to the game.

The Ivorians were tournament favourites until they fell 2-1 to the Super Eagles who paraded eight players featuring in the tournament for the first time.

“People were calling them (Ivory Coast) the golden generation but if they had said to themselves that they are not golden until they win something, that could have made a difference,” Oliseh said in a post-match analysis on SuperSport.

“Ivory Coast didn’t come to the party; you could see Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba walking on the pitch.

“In the first half, Victor Moses had about 84 per cent completed passes while Drogba had 27 per cent. That showed that the Nigerians wanted the victory more than the Ivorians.”

He added, “I am happy Nigeria played well today. Nigerians must learn to support their country irrespective of who is the coach of the team. This was Nigeria playing and not (coach Stephen) Keshi or (Daniel) Amokachi. Even if you hate Keshi or Amokachi you have to put it aside and support your team. We have to love our team.”

Former Ghana international, Sammy Kuffour, who was co-analyst, added, “Mikel Obi didn’t play particularly well in the game but his last touch won the match for Nigeria (when he stopped the opponents from scoring a late goal).”wp_posts