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Siasia: 'We all lose together'
By Matthew Kenyon
BBC Sport, Egypt
Nigeria under-20 coach Samson Siasia
Siasia was unhappy with his players and the referees at the U20 World Cup

Nigeria's under-20 coach Samson Siasia says the whole Flying Eagles set-up must take responsibility for their 3-2 loss to 10-man Germany.

The defeat saw them knocked-out of the Under-20 World Cup in Egpyt.

He criticised his players for failing to follow instructions in the game - in which they gave up the lead twice, and then conceded a goal in stoppage time.

"For the first time we scored two goals after playing four games, but now we've found out we can't defend," he said.

"All I did was to tell them to keep possession.

"You can't keep kicking long balls when you only have one man up.

"But they didn't even listen. You keep shouting all day - but if the players don't listen to you, this is what actually happens."

Siasia lead the Nigerian under-20s to second place in this event four years ago in the Netherlands, and accepted his share of the responsibility for what has been a disappointing performance in Egypt.

"I'm not going to blame players because I picked the players, so all the blame is on me, because if you have players who are not playing to instruction this is how you lose games," he said.
I think it's going to be a long way for them to get into the Super Eagles
Nigeria under-20 coach Samson Siasia

He was also severely critical of the refereeing at the tournament - saying Germany's winner in Suez sprang from a foul.

"The referee was five yards away [from the challenge] - and that was a foul, that was a foul," he complained.

"They kicked him and took the ball and I don't know why the referee allowed a chance like this - I think Fifa should do something about the referees too.

"Even though it's the players fault, the referee has a lot to do about what actually happened too."

As for the future for this group of players, the coach said they need to do a lot of work before being able to challenge for places in the senior national team - even if they are struggling to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

"I think it's going to be very difficult because you need players who are tactically very sound," he said.

"If they're asked to do things, they have to carry out instructions on the field of play and you can see from our play that we don't do that.

"I think it's going to be a long way for them to get into the Super Eagles."


http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2Fsport2%2Fhi%2Ffootball%2Fafrica%2F8297107.stm

Tell me about it. As if we don't already know. shioor!

Like se no be am pick the players. Shior!

How is Siasia encouraging his team by telling them this?