- Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has hailed the incredible performance of the Super Eagles against his team
- He explained that he could not understand how his team threw a two goal lead
- The former Sevilla manager then dismissed claims of panic in his squad saying it is just a friendly match to access new players in the squad
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has hailed the impressive comeback of the Super Eagles against his team in their pre-World Cup friendly tie.
The 57-year-old could not understand how his team threw away a comfortable two-goal lead as Nigeria fought back to win their friendly 4-2 in Krasnodar.
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli hails the Super Eagles following surprise comeback
Sampaoli who was without star man Lionel Messi after the Barcelona playmaker returned to Spain following the friendly with 2018 World Cup hosts Russia in Moscow said: "It was a very difficult game to explain,"
"In the first half we could have been three or four nil ahead, but ended up at 2-1.
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"Then in the second half, in just nine minutes with three long shots, they scored three goals. After this, the momentum was in favour of Nigeria.
"We did not have the energy of the first half and Nigeria's lead could have been extended further."
Sampaoli added at a press conference, quoted on the Argentina Football Federation website: "All these tour matches give us the opportunity to evaluate and draw conclusions.
"From this, we must draw a clear diagnosis of what happened for what is to come.
"Mental strength has a lot to do with the future, we can not neglect it.
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"We must have the ability to know how to change difficult moments without going into madness."
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr also intends to make the use of the build-up towards next summer's finals in Russia.
"Such matches are specially designed so that we can evaluate new players in the team," he said at a press conference."
NAIJ.com reported earlier that Sergio Aguero collapsed and was rushed to the hospital during half-time in Argentina's friendly clash against Nigeria.
Source: Sports.naija.ng
ROSY CREST
Wednesday 15 November 2017