FRANCE 98 – MatchQuotes

Match Number 10 ESP – NGA Quotes

Bora MILUTINOVIC:

“I can’t really talk about the game itself, our ultimate aim is to qualify, to reach the quarter finals. This is a first step in the right direction. I’m very happy with the result. I’d like to take this opportunity to send greetings to a few friends in Mexico. The key to our success is our players. You have to remain humble in defeat as well as in victory. It’s too early to talk about qualification but of course that’s what we’re aiming for now.”

Javier CLEMENTE :

“It was very difficult. Of course, we could’ve won 3/1 but it didn’t work out that way. We have to keep on working towards future victories. Their first goal we could have avoided but the third was an excellent shot. We still have a chance, we just have to buckle down and get on with the job”.

Alberto CELADES (16):

“This has come as a great shock for us. Only we can’t control everything. But we won’t dwell on that; and we’ll look towards the future. We are aware of our potential. Past experience has shown that this kind of bad luck has struck the best teams. We’re going to bounce back”.

Luis ENRIQUE (21):

“The Nigerians just took advantage of our mistakes. I’m convinced they’re not better than us”.

Miguel NADAL (20)

“The Nigerian team’s victory is due to greater realism. In the second half, we were too defensive. Losing this first match puts us in a difficult situation but we’re going to keep on working to get one of the first two places in the group”.

Ivan CAMPO (14)

“We could not manage to lift the level of our game when NIGERIA took the lead. Luck wasn’t on our side and NIGERIA put a lot pressure on us in the second half, it was just impossible to catch up. The two opportunities we missed at the start of the match finally cost us dearly”.

FINIDI (7):

“We have shown we’re a top team. Nobody thought we would beat SPAIN, but by putting a lot of energy into our game we’ve shown that it’s possible. Even when we were down 1/2, we didn’t doubt we could win because we had plenty of time left to catch up. This victory is promising for the rest of the competition”.

Sunday OLISEH (15):

“I think we merited this after all our hard work. It’s been very difficult getting to this stage of the World Cup. We did it not only for ourselves but for the hundred and something million people in NIGERIA. As soon as I found myself in front of the goal I didn’t think about it, I just kicked the ball as hard as I could. I worked really hard throughout the game because I was the link between the attack and the defense”.

Taribo West (6) :

“We played a good game and now we’re going to try to keep playing that way. Our players are capable of making the difference. We played calmly and above all it’s our teamwork that won us the game. The friendly matches before the World Cup were a true indication of our potential”.

Peter RUFAI (1):

“Our goal now is to play each game as it comes. I wasn’t too worried about the two goals they got, because when you know football you can guess how the match will end. Tonight, we’re not going to celebrate too much because we have to concentrate on the next game. IKPEBA’s birthday will be the only exception”.