John Mikel Obi was Nigeria’s stand-out player in the 0-1 loss to Ivory Coast, but the Chelsea youngster was almost in tears as he lamented the horrific defending that allowed Salomon Kalou to practically stroll his way to scoring the winning goal.
A posse of defenders simply stood back and watched Kalou streak past like Flash Gordon in full flight before tucking the ball past Austin Ejide, and Mikel was inconsolable
“Last time it was the same thing; we made a mistake and they scored,” Mikel, almost in tears.
“We talked about this at the team meeting and stressed how important it was not to make a mistake and then we go and do it again.”
Mikel won the Samsung Fair Play Award but that proved scant consolation for the midfielder.
“It is disappointing to lose. We all love our country and we want to come here and win, but to lose like this is a huge let-down for us as a team and we just have to find a way to get back and win our next two games.”
Nigeria face Mali next on Thursday and now need to win that, and their final group game against Benin to advance.
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