I’m proud of my players – Masajedi
Nigeria’s hopes of qualifying for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games were ended by Morocco at the 2026 African Men’s Volleyball Nations Championship in Tunisia.
The West African side lost to the North Africans 3-2 in a thrilling quarterfinal encounter on Monday, September 21.
Nigeria won the first set 25-20 before Morocco responded strongly to take the second and third sets 25-15 and 25-20 respectively.
The Nigerian side forced a deciding set after winning the fourth set 26-24, but Morocco held their nerve to win the fifth set 15-12 and book their place in the semifinals.
Nigeria will now take on Rwanda in the 5th-9th classification match on Wednesday, September 23.
Speaking after the defeat, head coach of Nigeria’s men’s team, Ryan Masajedi praised his players for their fighting spirit throughout the quarterfinal encounter.
The Japanese coach acknowledged the impact of the substitute in the fourth set.
Masajedi said: “We did our best and I am proud of the players. The bench made the difference in the fourth set when we thought everything was over.
“To be honest, we already understand what our weaknesses and strengths are.
“We’ll look at the match after this tournament and look at what went wrong.
“The focus is the next game, and the players will be ready.”