Okocha: “Nigeria Was Stronger, Algerian Team's Defensive Errors Led To Its Defeat”

Former Nigerian international Jay-Jay Okocha spoke about the last match against the Greens who lost in front the Nigerian Eagles 3-1, and explained in a statement to Echorouk that the Eagles had more will and desire to win.

“Because they missed qualifying for the African Nations Cup finals, they put in mind the goal of qualifying for the World Cup Russia finals, which made the players do their best efforts in the match against Algeria, and stressed their desire to qualify by achieving victory with three goals. It is not easy to win over the Algerian National Team”.

“The Algerian team is strong and it is not easy to win against it with three goals, and this confirms the determination and will, which are shown by the Nigerian team, which showed great desire to win, as it aims to qualify for the World Cup after it missed qualifying for the African Nations Cup finals”.

“Performance of the Algerian national team in this match was not very good because Algerian players tried to run the game intelligently through the bloc in defense and rely on the movements of Brahimi and Mehrez and Selimani in the front line, but the defensive mistakes by the defenders was the cause of the defeat, noting that the second goal that was scored by Mikel Obi after an error from Mandy was legitimate and it was not infiltration”.

As for Algerian team’s chances in this group after the second round results, the former international player acknowledged that the Nigerian team has more opportunities than the other teams, and a victory against Cameroon in the next match means another good step towards qualifying for the World Cup in Russia.