Nigeria, Senegal aim for high exit

CAIRO – It will be a case of weary deja vu when Nigeria face Senegal in the pretty senseless third-place playoff at the African Nations Cup here at the Military Stadium today.

Both sides will be going in licking their wounds and grievances after losing their respective semi-finals to Ivory Coast and Egypt. This will be their second meeting in the tournament in which they were drawn in the now obligatory – for major finals – Group of Death and saw Nigeria come from a goal down to beat Senegal 2-1.”We lost our way in that match,” said Senegal coach Abdoulaye Sarr.”One schoolboy error drained the confidence out of the team and we lost after dominating 80 minutes of the match,” added Sarr, referring to goalkeeper Tony Sylva letting a simple corner slip through his hands and allowing Obafemi Martins a simple tap in.Senegal may have lost three of their five matches here but they were the more impressive of the old rivals in the 2-1 defeat by Egypt than Nigeria were in the 1-0 reverse against Ivory Coast.Indeed had Cameroon referee Divine Evehe held his nerve and not rescinded his decision to award the ‘Terangee Lions’ a penalty two minutes from time they might well have gone on to win it.While several of the Senegalese players muttered about home decisions, Sarr was more diplomatic and preferred to look ahead.”It wasn’t to be.Now we must prepare for Thursday’s match and go out of this tournament on a high note,” he said.It was a different story for Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen.He admitted his team were outplayed by Ivory Coast, even if Didier Drogba’s goal looked as if the Chelsea star was yards offside.”We did not play well, this was our worst game at this tournament and we were clearly outplayed in all departments by our opponents.Probably this had to do with fatigue but our ball movement was slow,” said Eguavoen, who had a distinguished career as a player participating in both the 1994 and 1998 World Cup finals.The match may be more significant for the fact that Nigerian playmaker and for so long their inspiration Jay Jay Okocha will be taking his final bow on the international stage.A peripheral figure until coming on during the second-half of the semi-final as Eguavoen desperately sought some kind of way to break the Ivory Coast defence, Okocha will be keen to leave the highest level on a winning note.Senegal would love to be party-poopers and if they can raise themselves to the level that they played against Egypt then they could well have their way.-Nampa-AFPThis will be their second meeting in the tournament in which they were drawn in the now obligatory – for major finals – Group of Death and saw Nigeria come from a goal down to beat Senegal 2-1.”We lost our way in that match,” said Senegal coach Abdoulaye Sarr.”One schoolboy error drained the confidence out of the team and we lost after dominating 80 minutes of the match,” added Sarr, referring to goalkeeper Tony Sylva letting a simple corner slip through his hands and allowing Obafemi Martins a simple tap in.Senegal may have lost three of their five matches here but they were the more impressive of the old rivals in the 2-1 defeat by Egypt than Nigeria were in the 1-0 reverse against Ivory Coast.Indeed had Cameroon referee Divine Evehe held his nerve and not rescinded his decision to award the ‘Terangee Lions’ a penalty two minutes from time they might well have gone on to win it.While several of the Senegalese players muttered about home decisions, Sarr was more diplomatic and preferred to look ahead.”It wasn’t to be.Now we must prepare for Thursday’s match and go out of this tournament on a high note,” he said.It was a different story for Nigeria coach Austin Eguavoen.He admitted his team were outplayed by Ivory Coast, even if Didier Drogba’s goal looked as if the Chelsea star was yards offside.”We did not play well, this was our worst game at this tournament and we were clearly outplayed in all departments by our opponents.Probably this had to do with fatigue but our ball movement was slow,” said Eguavoen, who had a distinguished career as a player participating in both the 1994 and 1998 World Cup finals.The match may be more significant for the fact that Nigerian playmaker and for so long their inspiration Jay Jay Okocha will be taking his final bow on the international stage.A peripheral figure until coming on during the second-half of the semi-final as Eguavoen desperately sought some kind of way to break the Ivory Coast defence, Okocha will be keen to leave the highest level on a winning note.Senegal would love to be party-poopers and if they can raise themselves to the level that they played against Egypt then they could well have their way.-Nampa-AFP