Olofinjana defends self on penalty

Seyi Olofinjana who will miss friday's third place game against Mali, says the penalty called against him in the game with Tunisia was uncalled for.

"I went for the ball and not the player and was shocked when the referee pointed to the penalty spot.I
am sure the player dived but the referee fell for it and gave a penalty against the Super Eagles.

"However, I am happy with my performance and would surely with time", stated the Brann of Norway
midfielder.

The former Kwara United of Ilorin midfielder, believes the 2006 World Cup qualifiers will place Nigeria in
another football pedestal.

"This Nations Cup was a good tournament for us. We did our best in the circumstances and would eargerly wait for the World Cup qualifiers," said Olofinjana.

"We can only get better from here and I think we are certainly one of the favourites to qualify for the
World Cup in Germany".

Lawal says Eagles will rise again

Hard working midfielder, Garba Lawal has said that the Super Eagles will still return to claim a major spot
in African Football inspite of their penalty loss to Tunisia in the semi final of the Nations Cup

“ The Super Eagles will put their African Nations Cup disappointment behind them and bounce back in style when the 2006 World Cup qualifiers get underway in June.

"There is nothing to despair about," said Lawal who thought his team's lacklustre performance against
Tunisia could have been caused by the mentally draining task of beating defending champions Cameroon in the quarter-finals.

"Nigeria are still a good team. We have lots of promising youngsters in the side and my only concern
is that they sustain their consistency in the World Cup qualifiers.

"The other teams will be raising their games when they face us." Nigeria will face Algeria, Angola, Zimbabwe, Gabon and Rwanda when the joint 2006 World Cup and 2006 Nations Cup qualifying campaign gets underway.