FRANCIS ACHI/Casablanca,Morocco

Salisu Yusuf, the Chief coach of the Super Eagles to the CHAN 2018  tournament that lost 4-0 to Morocco in the final has said that he coped with injuries with the majority of  the players in the team before they eventually crumbled in the final.

Yusuf, who spoke with PM EXPRESS on Monday at the Eagles lodge  in Casablanca before they checked out expressed his unhappiness with the loss, but reckoned that fatigue of travelling to different cities to honour some fixtures in the tournament was also a negative factor that affected the team.

” This was not the result that we worked for , but there was nothing we could  do especially with various injuries affecting majority of the players and we had to manage with injuries to ensure that the players were in good condition . I had to cope with injuries to these players, unfortunately, the team had to lose the final, ” Salisu Yusuf said .

” It is very difficult for injured players to recover fully in a cold weather and to be honest with you , these players gave their all to reach the final and win a silver medal for the country ,” he added .

He expressed his satisfaction with the discovery of some young players that will become integral part in the main Super Eagles in the future. He affirmed that the league  in Nigeria is very competitive, filled with good  players and the achievements of the team in 2018 CHAN tournament is a proof that the Nigerian league is very strong.

” At least I am happy with the performance of some young players in the team and these players can play a part in the Super Eagles Team A in the future . Playing in the final despite all the problems of injuries and fatigues indicates that we have great players in the Nigerian league and the  future of the game is very bright in Nigeria,” he said.