Super Eagles assistant coach, Finidi George has given his honest opinions on the team’s campaign at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations.

In a chat with BRL, Finidi explained what went wrong for the Super Eagles in the final of the tournament against Cote d’Ivoire.

The Super Eagles had grabbed the lead in the first half via a pin-point header from inspirational captain on the night, William Troost-Ekong, however, the Ivoriens turned it around.

“It’s not getting it wrong, the approach was to play the same way. But I felt after we scored that goal, we took three steps backwards,” the Coach said.

“The team played a little bit too deep. And you know as host country, they had to push, they had to fight in front of their home supporters. And yeah, they gave their all and they got that equalizer.

“From that moment, I think if you were in that stadium, you know the fans, everybody were for them. And yeah, they pushed it, they got that second goal. And the time to score that second goal was, yeah, almost the tail end of the game.

“Yeah, you watching the game, you know it, it was an uphill battle for us to come back into that game. So it’s unfortunate but we have to learn from that and see how we can be better.”

Finidi George also revealed the positives he noted in the course of the tournament.

“One, I think we have been able to get that stability in the goalpost. Yeah, we knowing what the first eleven looks like, you know, but you can see before the AFCON, we’ve been trying this and trying that.

“Now that we have a formation and we have players that can do it in that formation, I think, yeah, that is the positive I can take because if you look at Super Eagles now, technically you know the starters.”

“These are the two things, the positives that I can take from the tournament.”

Finidi George also opined on what could be done to continue the upward trajectory of the Super Eagles following their performance at the AFCON.

“The formation has to be upgraded at every given time. Every game moves on. You are in a tournament or every match you score a goal, you try to do something else. I think we have to upgrade what we’ve done so far.

“I think it was a lesson. After our goal we defended too deep. I think moving forward we have to push that formation.

“We have to push it a little bit further instead of going behind, a little bit further so that we don’t struggle in games. I think that is what the coach will do. He too saw the game and maybe they’ll like it. So we have to be better on that.”

The Super Eagles rocketed to 28th on the global ranking by their display in Ivory Coast and as well moved to 3rd on the continental ranking, they will be hoping to consolidate as they resume hostilities for the World Cup qualifiers with South Africa and Benin Republic beckoning.