Despite the scandalous loss to the world best Olympics basketball team 156-73 and making history as a team to record the worst defeat ever in an Olympics basketball game, coach of the Nigerian team, Ayo Bakare believes his boys can still qualify.
His worry however is how to psyche them up following the defeat he described as ‘a dubious distinction on bad record.’ He said: “After such a loss against the USA it is very tough to psyche their minds because they are still stunned.
The result is a dubious distinction on bad record and it is very hard to motivate players with this kind of result. We wanted to use the USA match as a launch pad to that of Argentina and France. We knew we were not going to beat the Americans but wanted to play very well.
We must find away to be motivated because from an 86 points margin loss, we have no positives on the match but probably some lessons. We still got to beat Argentina on Saturday and France thereafter to progress. I think we still have a chance.”