Every word Madagascar coach said on defeat to Super Eagles, what went wrong, midfield battle, missed chance

Madagascar coach Corentin Martins admitted that the 2-1 defeat to Nigeria in a 2027 Afcon qualifier was difficult to accept. 

On his debut, Moses Usor came off the bench to score what proved to be the game-winning goal, after another debutant George Ilenikhena cancelled out Ehsan Kari's opener.

Madagascar produced an impressive first half performance and were able to compete with Nigeria in midfield despite the Super Eagles fielding players with Premier League experience - Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman.

Madagascar could not maintain the same intensity after the break and were punished by Nigeria, with Martins highlighting small details, a missed opportunity to take a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute, and the greater experience of the Super Eagles players as key factors in the defeat.

Here is everything Martins said during his post-match press conference.

Let me start. What is your assessment of the game from your own point of view?

Corentin Martins: "For us, this result is difficult for us to accept it. This game, they beat us in small detail. We have one occasion to be 2-1 up and we didn't make it.

"From the corner we got a goal. It's something we know like that, we talked to the players before. It's a detail you have in this game."

Let's talk about your midfield. We saw the game in the first half, with all the big names Nigeria had in the middle, you were still able to somehow dominate and play a wonderful game in the first half. What happened?

Corentin Martins: "We played a game with Nigeria with good players. We also want to be tactical. We were good with the ball in the first half, we went with the ball well, and in the second half we were physically tired.

"We made some moves to win the game so we can score the second goal, but we were not consistent throughout the game.

"This result is difficult to accept but we did a good thing the way we can do it."

What do you miss in your team to beat Nigeria here?

Corentin Martins: "We don't play quality teams. If you compare your players and our players, your players play in big leagues than us.

"Just small detail to make it because they have a lot of these."

Ifeanyi Emmanuel