Dalung confident of Eagles, says defeat to Serbia is for the good

Despite Super Eagles’ 2-0 loss to Serbia in a pre-World Cup friendly, the Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalong, says he is satisfied with the performance of the team.

The Eagles looked out of sorts in every area of the pitch in the encounter, although regular team players like captain John Mikel Obi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Leon Balogun and a few others were not fielded.

A brace by Aleksandar Mitrovic in the 67th and 80th minutes respectively gave the Serbs the deserved victory at the Hive Stadium in London on Tuesday night.

The Minister insisted that the defeat has exposed the weaknesses of the team which they will strengthen before the World Cup kicks off in Russia.

“Whether I am satisfied with the performance of the Super Eagles in view of their last defeat, I am quite confident,” said Dalung, while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.

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“The process of qualification was not that very smooth; we must not win every match to be able to say that we are prepared,

“But of course, challenges like the one we have also prepare us for the type of competition we are going to be engaged.

“So what happened with the 2 – 0 (against Serbia) has put us on our toes to go back to the drawing board and then try to look at areas of our weaknesses and strengthen on them,” he stated.

The Super Eagles however defeated Poland 1-0 last week Friday thanks to a finely converted penalty by Victor Moses in Wroclaw, which kicked off their build-up to the World Cup.

And the team has more friendlies to play before the mundial, including clashes against Congo DR and the Three Lions of England.
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