The coach of Sao Tome and Principe Ricardo Cardoso has blamed the 0-6 thrashing his team received in the hands of Nigeria yesterday on the decision of the Super Eagles coach to use the country’s best player in a dead rubber game, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria already have a spot in next year Africa Cup of Nations at hand before yesterday’s game, but still named a very strong lineup with the likes of Victor Osimhen who scored a hattrick leading the line alongside Kelechi Iheanacho and Taiwo Awoniyi.
They achieved a comprehensive scoreline with Ademola Lookman, Samuel Chukwueze and Awoniyi completing the scores. The decision to unleash the best players on his team didn’t go down well with the coach of Sao Tome, but he said they have learnt a vital lesson from the heavy defeat.
“Last time we played Nigeria we had some problems, we couldn’t get our best players and had to use new players and I can promise that at the long run we will be better,” Cardoso explained after the game.
“We know each other now and I think we were better than the last time, we showed you guys we can play as well. Nigeria is a big team with top players who feature in top clubs unlike us, we only have one player in a first division and you play them today, which is not fair with the scoreline you see.
“We are working because we are a young team and I think next time we will be better and, in the future, we will be a big team.”
