TVC E. Taifa Stars of Tanzania skipper, Mbwana Ally Samata, claims he is proud of the performance of his teammates even though they lost 1-0 in the dead-rubber 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Saturday.
The Belgium-based forward told Complete Sports moments after the match, which was settled by a superb Kelechi Iheanacho strike: “I told you (Complete Sports) before the game that the fixture is meaningless and that we were going to take it easy but I’m happy we gave your team a hard time. The game could have gone either way and I’m sure the result will be different next time.”
Samatta was a constant thorn in the flesh of the Nigerian team and caused more than two moments of anxiety for the Super Eagles defence.
“Your defenders were very hard and rough on us and I think the referee should have protected us more. The result of the match doesn’t mean anything for the two teams so why should we kill each other?” he queried with a hint of annoyance.
Samatta also took time out to talk about club mate Wilfred Ndidi who made his senior debut in the match.
“Ndidi is a nice guy and we talked about this game beforehand. Now it’s over we can both go back to Genk and focus on our club.”
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