Niger assistant coach Hassan Idé Barkire has said that he is proud of the team’s performance despite losing the third-place playoff 1-0 to debutants Madagascar in a tightly contested match on Friday at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran.
Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference at the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2022, Barkire admitted that the Menas would have loved to have finished on the podium, but fourth place is the highest position the nation has ever attained.
“I am very proud of the team. We worked so hard to reach this stage. We would have loved to go to the final in Algiers or to at least finish third but that is football for you. We fell short of our objective, but we are fourth on the continent,” Barkire said.
Barkire congratulated the Madagascar coach Ramouald Rakotondrabe at the press conference and admitted that the Barea deserved the victory.
“We congratulate Madagascar. They scored a late goal. It is tough to take a result like this, but we salute them. This is football. We shall go back home and continue to work hard so that we become regulars at continental competitions and seek even bigger success,” Barkire noted.
This is Niger’s highest ranking at the CHAN after reaching the quarterfinals in the 2011 edition coached by Harouna Doula. The Menas did not make it out of the group stages at the 2016 edition in Rwanda and at the last edition in Cameroon.
