The coach of the Nigeria national team, Gernot Rohr, has tried to explain possible factors responsible for the Super Eagles\u2019 shocking 2-0 defeat against Madagascar at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Sunday.<\/p>\n
While Rohr admitted that his players performed below-par, he was quick to state that Madagascar team are also a good team and there was nothing to be ashamed of, losing to the team that first secured qualification for AFCON in 2019.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s defeat ended the Super Eagles unbeaten run of nine games in the biennial show piece since 2010 and also saw them finish as Group B runners-up.<\/p>\n
Lalaina Nomenjanahary broke the deadlock in the 13th minute after benefitting from a defensive slip from Leon Balogun.<\/p>\n
The three-time African champions found it difficult to score an equaliser and Carolus Andriamahitsinoro doubled the lead for Madagascar with his deflected free-kick in the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n
In his assessment of the team\u2019s display, Rohr said his players were \u2018relaxed\u2019 but he was not surprised by the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost to a good team because Madagascar was the first to qualify for the tournament and there is no shame in losing to such a team,\u201d Rohr said in his post-match interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cMadagascar was the better team today (Sunday). We started with giving them a gift and after, we could not find a solution. We made five changes because we wanted to give a rest to some players and also preserve those with cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it happens when you are already qualified; the players are relaxed and playing easy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The coach of the Nigeria national team, Gernot Rohr, has tried to explain possible factors responsible for the Super Eagles\u2019 shocking 2-0 defeat against Madagascar at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Sunday. While Rohr admitted that his players performed below-par, he was quick to state that Madagascar team are also a good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":12191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[468,530,122,453],"class_list":["post-12190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-afcon","tag-rohr","tag-sports","tag-super-eagles"],"yoast_head":"\n