World Cup qualifiers: Why we lost to Nigeria – Algerian coach, Leekens

Coach of the Desert Foxes of Algeria, Georges Leekens, has provided an insight on what led to his team’s defeat by the Super Eagles in Uyo late last year.

Leekens’s men crumbled 3-1 to Nigeria in November’s Fifa World Cup qualifier few weeks after he was appointed to take charge of the team.

Chelsea’s Victor Moses scored twice while captain John Obi Mikel completed the rout as Gernot Rohr’s men silenced the Greens at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium.

The tactician told FIFA.com what went wrong with the Greens despite putting up a strong performance in the second half.


He explained, “African teams usually start games at full throttle, but without testing their opponents.

“Then, as the minutes go by, the intensity drops, which is when you have to step things up and make the difference.

“Against Nigeria, for example, we played well in the second half, but only after we’d let in two goals in the first. If we’d played at the same level for the whole match, we’d have won.”

Algeria, who are hoping to topple Nigeria in the World Cup qualifying group that also has Cameroon and Zambia, are zoned in Group B of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Senegal, and the Belgian coach believes he will subdue his foes to lift the trophy.

“We want to win this tournament and take part in the Confederations Cup, but all I’m thinking about right now is negotiating our first match well against Zimbabwe and then the second against Tunisia.

“As far as I’m concerned, these are our two biggest games at the start of this year.”