AFCON 2017: Siasia optimistic Eagles can win in Egypt

Super Eagles’ Interim Coach Samson Siasia on Friday in Kaduna said his team would now be aiming to beat the Pharaohs of Egypt when both teams meet on Tuesday.

Siasia who said this during a post-match briefing at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, following his team’s 1-1 draw with the Pharaohs, said his team could win the return leg match.

The return leg match of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifying Group G fixture holds in Alexandria on Tuesday.

Etebo Oghenekaro had on Friday put the Eagles ahead in the 60th minute before Mohamed Salah beat the offside trap to equalise for the Pharaohs in the 90th minute.

The Eagles handler, however, said the team’s technical crew would correct the lapses noticed in the match in Kaduna before the reverse fixture in Alexandria on Tuesday.

He said the Eagles played well but the technical crew needed to make some corrections before their next match in Egypt.

“We will try to see what went wrong and do a proper check before playing our next match so that we can win in Egypt.

“The players did well but I don’t know what went wrong in the last three minutes when the Egyptians equalised. That is football for you.

“A game can end up in a draw or loss even when you play well. However, we should have been marking in the last three minutes, but it turned out the other way.

“With the outcome of the match, we will try our best to win in Egypt, because in football everything is possible.

“We cannot move backwards but forward. We are going to pull ourselves together and see how we are going to win the match,’’ Siasia said.

He pointed out that his players were tactically better than the Egyptians in the game for the greater part of the encounter.