Salisu Yusuf promises improved performance from Olympic Eagles after Tanzania win

Head coach of Nigeria’s Olympic Eagles, Salisu Yusuf says his team will continue to make necessary improvement after a 2-0 victory over Tanzania in the second leg, first round of the African U23 qualifiers on Sunday.

After their home triumph, they Dream Team qualify 3-1 on aggregate to the next round of the U23 AFCON qualifiers and the head coach is unperturbed by their latest achievements as he pledged to improve on their performance.

“It has not been easy putting the team together. The players are good but they lacked match fitness. We had to build them to a good level. I believe the team will continue to develop. There is progress in the team,” Yusuf told media.

The first half ended 0-0 and the Tanzanians were also denied by goalkeeper, Nathaniel Nwosu and Salisu explained his side’s opening first half struggle, admitting that the weather contributed to his team’s  performance.

“The first half wasn’t easy because of the weather. They were very compact and often hit us on the counter. Our build up was slow and we found it difficult penetrating. We had to step up our circulation and the ball moved well.”

Despite the difficulties, Salisu says the most important statistics from the game is his team’s victor.y

 “It’s all about team building. There was no connection at a stage. How many days did we converge? It is not easy building the team. We won the game and that’s most important.”

Yusuf also believes that the addition of some players who were not in the team would bolster his team in the last round of qualifiers.

“We have some players not in this group but they will be coming in future.”

They will slug it out with another East African opponents Uganda for a place in the final tournament.