Super Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback has expressed disappointment with the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Greece yesterday, bemoaning the lack of communication between coaches and referees following Sani Kaita's red card.
"It is difficult. Maybe, I have been in this business too long," the 61-year-old Swede said.
"I am extremely disappointed with the lack of communication between us and the referee. We were not allowed to speak to them and ask why Kaita was sent off."
The Super Eagles took a first half lead when Kalu Uche's free kick crept in at the far post but goals from Dimitrios Salpingidis and Vasilis Torosidis left Nigeria with a mountain to climb in order to achieve qualification from Group B.
"All I can do is congratulate Greece, they scored two and we scored only one," Lagerback continued.
"We have to take this and restart tomorrow. The sending off was hugely important. Under the circumstances, I am proud of the way we played with one man down.
"The ball seems to be moving a bit strangely, but it is the same for both teams so it doesn't matter," he added, alluding to the mistake from his goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama that gifted Greece the winning goal.
The Swede also admitted that the Eagles performed below expectation against a weak Greece side.
"I'm disappointed with the performance of the team. I think the Eagles could not click," he said, even as he remained positive that the Eagles could still make it to the next round only if the Argentina beat Greece while the Eagles win convincingly against South Korea.
"Everything is not lost yet. Let us hope Argentina wins against Greece and we are able to perform better than South Korea."
Super Eagles next match come up on June 22 against South Korea.
Related stories: Lagerback explains Maradona snub
Video overview of Group B in the 2010 World Cup
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