What Finidi George said after Nigeria’s 2-nil loss to Mali

Super Eagles stand-in coach, Finid Goerge, has reacted to Nigeria’s 2-0 loss to Mali last night at the Stade de Marrakech in Morocco, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 52-year-old tactician is the current head coach of the defending NPFL Champions, Enyimba FC, but was called in by the NFF to stand in temporarily as Nigeria’s coach for the March International friendlies, following the departure of Jose Peseiro.

In his first game in charge, Nigeria cruised to a 2-1 win in the Jollof derby, defeating Otto Addo’s Ghana, before falling to a defeat against Mali last night, in a display that was far from entertaining.

Speaking in his post-match interview, the former Ajax winger revealed that he was pleased with his team’s performance despite being on the losing side.

“We made a few mistakes that cost us the match. It was not a bad game, good intensity and we created a couple of chances and didn’t score, and in games like this, if you don’t take your chances and make mistakes, you get punished. We were not outplayed so that is a good thing and in the first game I think we did so well,” Finidi Told OgaNla Media.

The 1994 AFCON winner maintained that his team played better, but in football, that doesn’t always guarantee success.

“I would have loved a different result, but it was not meant to be. That’s how football is, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It’s a friendly game, so you just check to see some players that can be used in the future. That’s the most important thing,” the former Super Eagles winger added.

Nigeria will resume action again in June as they prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They will take on South Africa and Gernot Rohr’s Benin Republic.

N.B: We want to know your thoughts. Do you agree with Finidi, or do you think the Super Eagles were poor? Let us know in the comments.