Leroy said he hope that his wards
can end the Nigeria’s dream for a
place at the eight team
tournament later in the year in
Senegal going by the latter’s 2-1
in Port-Harcourt on Sunday.
“We never contemplated about
beating the Nigerian team at
home because we are still
dreaming to be like Dream Team
of Nigeria. On Sunday we lost 2-1
but it was the Nigerian team that
created a lot of chances. They
were better but 2-1 loss is not too
bad for my players,” said the
veteran Frenchman.
For the Frenchman, the slim loss
was only an assurance that the
job was half done for his side and
believed that victory at home was
assured.
For his Nigerian counterpart,
Samson Siasia, there were
reasons to be optimistic since his
charges had shown overtime that
they are good travelers, following
recent victories away when they
dispatched off Gabon (4-1) and
Zambia (2-0) in Libreville and
Lusaka respectively to seal
qualification for the African
Games Brazzaville 2015.
“We got carried away (after
scoring two goals) instead of
concentrating on the match.
These are the areas we are going
to look at (before the second leg).
This team is still young. We have
a lot of things to put in place.
There is a lot of work to do before
the second leg in Congo but I’m
comfortable with the score line
today,” Siasia observed.
Nigeria managed a 2-1 win over
Congo on Sunday in front of a
partisan capacity crowd in Port
Harcourt in their third round first
leg clash of the African U-23
Championship Senegal 2015
qualifiers.
The encounter could have ended
in a convincing win for the hosts
after overwhelming the Red
Devils in the first half, but the
curtain raiser only came on 48
minutes through Junior Ajayi
after Congo goalkeeper,
Christoffer Mafoumbi failed to
hold on to an acute-angled shot
by Godwin Saviour.
Ajayi doubled the lead six
minutes later, when he powered
home with a brilliant header off a
cross from Daniel Etor.
However, Moise Nkonkou’s goal
in the 66th minute when he
rammed home a rebound from
Nigeria’s goalkeeper Emmanuel
Daniel meant there is still very
much to play for in the second
leg in Pointe Noire in a fortnight.
The second legs will take place in
a fortnight with winners
qualifying for the final
tournament of the African U-23
Championship scheduled for 28
November to 12 December in
Senegal, where the top three
teams will represent Africa at the
2016 Olympic Games in Rio de
Janeiro, and the fourth placed
team facing an Asian side in a
playoff.
-The Sun
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