AFCON 2027 Race: Madagascar Coach Believes Second Half Fatigue Caused Defeat To Nigeria

By Saheed Afolabi

Madagascar coach, Corentin Martins has blamed his side’s second half weakness on their defeat to Nigeria at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Friday evening.

The Barea stunned the Super Eagles with a 16th minute strike through Ehsan Kari but Nigeria doubled back with 45th minute finish from George Ilenikhena and 65th goal from substitute, Moses Usor.

Martins said the defeat is a hard pill to swallow because his side didn’t deserve to lose despite having a fair number of chances in the game.

“This defeat is hard to take for me and my players because we didn’t deserve to lose in the manner that we did. We had a chance of going 2–1 up but didn’t take it,” Martins spoke at the postmatch press conference in Uyo.

He narrated how Nigeria quality came to play in the second half as his players were overpowered by the Eagles who took their chances.

“In the second half, our energy level dropped and with the quality of the Nigerian team they punished us.”

He stated that, the loss to Nigeria will further expand the experience base of his team who competed against top players.

“It’s a learning curve for me and my players who are not at the level of the Nigerian players, who are used to playing big games because they play for top teams in top leagues.”

Madagascar will face AFCON 2027 co-host, Tanzania in their next game on Tuesday, September 29.