Tunisia friendly: Dream Team must show greater character---Siasia

HEAD Coach of Nigeria's U-23 side the Dream Team, Samson Siasia has charged his wards to show character and resilience when they take on their counterparts from Tunisia in a second international friendly in Tunis on Wednesday. The Nigerian team lost 3-5 in the first meeting on Saturday.
 
“I don’t want to blame the players too much for the loss to the Tunisians in the first match. Without appearing to be making excuses for them, we arrived in Tunis on Friday afternoon and immediately went to training but the weather did not help matters.
 
“Most of them were traveling outside the country for the first time and you can’t wish that away. The weather was a critical issue. However, in the first match, my assistants and I noticed a number of areas we need to improve on seriously before we can say we have a team,” said the man who coached Nigeria to win the silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
 
The Dream Team lost 3-5 to the Olympic Eagles of Tunisia at the Stade el Menzah, with the Nigerian goals from Etim Emmanuel and Junior Ajayi, who hit a brace. The team created a handful of chances in the second half, after the first half had ended in three goals apiece but were undone by poor finishing.
 
“We thank the NFF for organising these matches because they will really help us prepare for the qualifiers against Gabon, and other matches in the race to the All-Africa Games and the 2016 Olympics. We will try a number of other players in the second match and see how things work out,” Siasia said after Sunday’s training session at the Stade November 7 in Rades, outside Tunis.
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Caption: Samson Siasia...Can his boys redeem Nigeria's image on Wednesday?