Former Nigerian international Friday Ekpo has blamed the Flying Eagles’ loss to South Africa on the players’ inability to convert their goal-scoring opportunities.
Recall that South Africa edged the Flying Eagles of Nigeria 1-0 in a tense semi-final clash at the Suez Canal Stadium on Thursday to book a place in the final of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
A well-taken header by Tylon Smith in the 66th minute proved decisive in a fiercely contested match between two of Africa’s traditional football powerhouses.
Reacting to the result, Ekpo told Completesports.con that the team wasted every golden chance that came their way.
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“Football is not all about the number of goal-scoring chances a team created but the goals scored. The Flying Eagles could have won this game by a wide margin, but the players failed to do the needful in front of the goal.
“South Africa played nothing, but they scored the most important goal with just one or two goal-scoring chances they created.
“Well, I believe the Flying Eagles will learn from these mistakes and put things right in their third-place match.”
6 Comments
Rubbish u20 ever in the history of our nation.
You knows nothing about football, no need wasting time dropping senseless comments. Go back in the kitchen and cook some food or something else to make yourself useful not coming here and constituting nuisance. Rubbish!
What is the meaning of “you knows “? Olodo rabata. Better go back to school. Idiot.
Naomi is right mr. 442
Nigeria will not be U-20 Afcon champions after coming short against rivals South Africa in a 1:0 semi-final loss.
A system comprised of simple passes, through passes, long balls, crosses and aggressive movements failed to displace South Africa’s defence enough to produce any goal – just like in the quarter final in open play.
This situation would be compounded by the substitute goalkeeper who was ‘flying by the seat of his pants’ at this level. His carelessness and unreadiness led to the only goal conceded with the team’s unrefined routines upfront unable to help redress or recover the setback.
Although practical football with physical orientation is not exactly a winning formula, it has been known to generate some moments of fun and excitement with players who can raise the profile of the approach with exceptional skills, aptitude and intellence.
Whilst I respect these players, particularly their exceptional teamwork and high work ethics, I still feel there should be other U-20 players out there with superior skills and greater intelligence. The substitute goalkeeper was just unprepared for the moment, and that is putting it mildly.
An overhaul of this team should help produce decent enough football to get the team at least to the quarter finals in the world cup.
Overhaul ke? I laugh in Japanese. The only overhaul is selling new slots to other desperate local players who want to play in more low rated leagues abroad after the “first batch” proved to be bad market for NFF lynchpins with no good thoughts for Nigerian football.
Let’s reason this: how many world cups will a tenure afford to supervise if the teams pull through? So, won’t it be profitable to make hay while the sun shines in marketing unskilled players at the first time of asking and collect money for being responsible for the players rise to temporary fame and eternal oblivion in later years because they’re past their productive spell?
No overhaul bro, only trading slots from one incompetent player to another.
Our first choice goalkeeper is 15 years in 2025. 15 years. How long do you think he’ll last on the pitch in years to come if mundane leagues don’t beckon on him into obscurity?
Better context, by the year 2035, he should be 25 years old, just entering his peak.
Let me leave out team captain Bamayi who hasn’t clocked 20 lol.
You think that’s possible? I’ve agreed in my heart that the only benefit for having a semblance of talent in the future is with the under 17 teams to be produced every year, because MRI can be mostly unforgiving.
Rational football federations with development on their minds would have taken the Manu Garba failed under 17 of last year and naturally progressed them but no, Nigeria league has quality under 20 players. Nigerian league with perpetually failed Continental title bids yearly!
We never ready. Foreign born pros are our shortcut to salvaging our senior national team. These under whatever are promotional enterprises for NFF.
This too will pass but I hope it will not be too late when the narrative changes in years ahead when other nations catch up with us and even leave us behind.
FIFA is deliberately creating more slots for African teams to build up their football with expanded world cup at nearly all levels.
Small small, we go soon turn also-rans to Djibouti and Botswana who will deliberately improve their soccer plans from the ground up.
My pain in all this is the women football. Suddenly, we have rivals from South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, Ghana, Cameroon in a competition we dominated for decades in time past.
We have not improved on those best yet others have. We tortured the world in 2023 world cup but we forgot also that the other African representatives won at least a world cup match also.
The gap is closing fast but no plans to help the women’s team.
Anyway, wetin concern me? Legacies must come out – for ill or good – of NFF tenure.
Like you often write, Deo, too much talk no dey full basket