Samson Siasia proud of Eagles defeat

Argentine players celebrating their goal

Samson Siasia says he is proud of his players despite a 3-1 loss to Argentina in a friendly match on Tuesday.

"We don’t want to give excuses, but the fact is that the boys were tired.

"We played against Madagascar on Sunday on a very bad pitch, then flew 14 hours to get here and played two days later. It was very difficult for some of the players, especially the ones who played 90 minutes in Madagascar.

"But it was a good game, and we tried our best but we lost."

Lionel Messi was the major inspiration, setting up two of the goals as the South Americans won a difficult contest and Siasia had nothing but praise for the two-time World Player of the Year, reports kickoffnigeria.com.

"He made the difference today. But we shut him down in the second half."

Argentina midfielder, Javier Mascherano agreed with the Nigeria coach about how hard the game was.

"It was a difficult game against a very strong team.

"The names today were different from the team at the World Cup and they made it hard for us." 

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