Flying Eagles coach Ladan Bosso says his team’s wastefulness in front of goal led to their defeat to Ghana, in their last Group B game of the 2021 U-20 AFCON qualifiers in Porto Novo, Benin Republic on Wednesday.
A superb free-kick close to the Flying Eagles’ box with eight minutes remaining in the game, secured a 1-0 win for Ghana.
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The Flying Eagles will now hope Ghana secure a big win against Cote d’Ivoire to stand a chance of advancing into the semi-finals of the WAFU B Zonal qualifiers.
And reacting to the defeat, Bosso said on Brila FM:”What we played against Ghana was better than what we played in the first match (against Cote d’Ivoire) but unfortunately this time around we were very wasteful.
“We had chances that would have finished this game since the first half but we couldn’t do that. We were very wasteful and that was what cost us this match.
“They had only one chance and they got it, we had three freekicks of our own but didn’t do anything with it.”
The WAFU B Zonal tournament is the qualifiers for next year’s U-20 AFCON in Mauritania.
By James Agberebi
16 Comments
Flimsy excuses. Who selected these players? What was your coaching input? What was the training? Against CIV, it was the same thing. Please admit that you aren’t good enough to handle the national team and that’s the fact but the NFF in their incompetent manner still employed you even after 13 years of not winning anything for the country. What a shame!
When it comes to home based coaches in Nigeria who learned their trade here, im not interested or surprised.
Very sad that we will not watch nigeria u20 in next World cup
And this new CAF of zoning also make things tough
We wait till next two years
Very sad
Like I said in another post, poor finishing, poor officiating and poor technique from the goalkeeper cost Nigeria dearly against Ghana.
Add to those factors a poor pitch which hampered the players’ ability to express themselves as they would have liked.
I was actually pleasantly suprised to have been able to decipher Ladan Bosso’s technical input and tactical approach from the way the Flying Eagles played. They employed patient and methodical build up play from defensive midfielder towards the opposition area until they perforate Ghana’s defence with a killer pass. When they were under attack and managed to regain possession, they employed quick long ball to release the centre forward in the hope of catching out the Ghanaians who were still in an attacking frame of mind (like Oliseh did against Senegal in the 2000 Afcon to locate Aghaowa who mortally wounded the opposition).
You could see the Flying Eagles trying to draw the Ghanaians out of position until they had a spare man. This approach worked sporadically. When it did, the spare man was disappointingly toothless with the goal at his mercy. Wisdom Ubani is a number one culprit. I like the guy but he was often one move or one good decision away from turning himself into a national hero. The pitch, his decision making and lack of precision all conspired to make this a tournament to forget rather than one to remember for Ubani.
Also, the Flying Eagles were ruthless with their set pieces often doing everything right but scoring. They did score one but it was disallowed. The centre-backs also showed remarkable focus and composure for long periods.
We will never know what would have been had they started preparations much earlier.
All in all, apart from the results, I wasn’t too disappointed with what I saw in the games against Ivory Coast and Ghana. The Flying Eagles played with patriotism, pride and purpose. A solitary killer goal at the worst possible time denied them favourable outcomes on both occasions.
Yes they had shortcomings, many I might add. But on balance and considering how late in the day they started preparations (and how poor playing surface and poor officiating also played in), I believe the Flying Eagles’ positives far outweigh their negatives.
Bosso suprised me a great deal at this level. He set up the team well against Ghana and even Ivory Coast (though to a lesser extent) but his team spurned chances that could have made all the difference. Some would blame Bosso for his team’s profligacy but players (however young) have to take responsibility too for how they implement their coach’s strategy on the field of play.
From the looks of things, the Flying Eagles are to all intent and purposes out of the competition.
That is rather unfortunate.
Thanks for your assertion. This is why I have issues with people who didn’t watch the match a d come here to express there hatred for the coach. The pitch was a big factor in that game. Passes made that will end up bouncing. I please ask members go watch the game and come back with there own view. That team was good enough for the final. Luck was just not on there side.
Why u nor teach them …? Mumu
The same Bosso that has previously failed with the national teams and his likes will continuously be re-cycled by the NFF.
Blame NFF and Philips Consulting Firm .Mark my words,the same fate awaits the new Golden Eaglets. You don’t give what you don’t have. They have only succeeded in taking our football 100 years backward.
I discharged with a wave of hand the appointment of Laddan Bosso few weeks ago in this platform but some raised eyebrow. What panacea does a coach who finished a match with Chile at regulation time (0-0) but lost the match at extra time(0-4),still have with our u-20 team. As far as they continue recycling of coaches,they should expect similar result. Raber Majer in spite of his greatness as a player, lost scandalously as a coach, and was banned from coaching in Algeria without minding whose ox is gored. Nigeria should emulate same.
The same excuse of “poor finishing” was advanced after the game against Ivory Coast
Drey come and see your favorite coach, pls defend him.
I still dey ask the same question like b4, could someone please mention to me one thing that is functional in Naija!
I made very emotional comments after our loss to Ghana blasting Ladan Bosso, but in all honesty, he did his best for the team given the preparation time constraints and other non-footballing factors. I have reviewed the games and mistakes made by the Flying Eagles were just characteristic of age grade championship at this stage. The lads are still learning the rudiments of the game and their decisions in match situations are still not the best… Wisdom Ubani though young and good, tend to show profligacy with scoring opportunities even right from U-17 days, he can still improve and the future is bright for him. Peter Olawale and Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi are also very good players who can still improve. I was particularly disappointed that Ikwuemesi did not start the fast match against CIV, and in what appears to be a decent game for him in the second game against Ghana which showed his link-up play as very good and how he troubled the Ghanaian defenders and kept them tight on their toes, he was summarily substituted barely 3minutes into the second half rather strangely and too early… I personally thought he would have used his energy and direct play to better efficiency in the second half where we had more scoreable chances at goal… I cannot understand why it appears he was relegated in the striking role for FE when he has reports that he was the most efficient marksman heading into the tournament… youth team coaches as part of their tutelage to youngsters should also help to instill support and confidence for young talents by believing in them and not showing a rather impatient attitude with these youngsters. If we had the addition of Amoo, Olusegun and Said Ibrahim as well Abduljabbar from the last U-17 team avaialable… it would have been a different story for the lads. Somehow, these last mentioned players are now in Scandinavia (Said, Olesegun, and Amoo) and Portugal (Abduljabbar) and if NFF is proactive, their releases could have been possible from their clubs if pursued in good time from their Euro clubs… most of these European clubs like their players to continue to develop and are always happy if they continue to get invited to the National youth setups as this even increases the players’ profile and clearly most of these clubs are in football largely for good business, which player exposure in national tournaments serves. In my opinion… NFF can still keep the team together even if Ghana plays accord with CIV to oust Nigeria, as I believe Ghanaians will want to do since they were dominated by our boys in the pay and may feel if they give FE another life line, it may come back to haunt them as I do not think a second matchup will favour them in the final against Nigeria. The matches played against CIV and Ghana reveal our boys to be the better side in both instances… we have been upended by ill luck, bias officiating and lack of attention to details on the part of some of the boys… the attack generally never came to party in their games and the goalkeeper was clearly at fault for the goal scored by Ghana as his position was just like what just reminiscent of Akpeyi’s dumbo against Algeria. Finally I will not blame Ladan Bosso… the pitch never allowed good football, CAF has their match officials sounded to frustrate Nigeria out, and we could gain from the tournament by engaging these boys still… NFF should organise an invitation tournament of 4 national u-20 teams for these boys sometime next year wbefore the main CAF U-20 Afcon is takes place. We could invite Gambia, who has qualified to the main tournament in Mauritania, and further invite from Mali, Senegal, Cameroun, Zambia and Sounth Africa. NFF can also push to get Nigeria U-20 invited for the next Toulon festival always held in France for our U-20/U-21 team. If we can always do this for U-17, U-20… that age group will be kept alive and we could always spot a talent or two for the future u-23 and Super Eagles. We must continue to do things differently in Nigeria and have a sustained active youth football department. However… with politicians like Amaju Pinnick at the helms of affairs, where every FIFA grant that comes in is pocketed and shared with constant complain of funds paucity by NFF highups… we may continue to underperform at youth competitions for the foreseeable future.
I made very emotional comments after our loss to Ghana blasting Ladan Bosso, but in all honesty, he did his best for the team given the preparation time constraints and other non-footballing factors. I have reviewed the games and mistakes made by the Flying Eagles were just characteristic of age grade championship at this stage. The lads are still learning the rudiments of the game and their decisions in match situations are still not the best… Wisdom Ubani though young and good, tend to show profligacy with scoring opportunities even right from U-17 days, he can still improve and the future is bright for him. Peter Olawale and Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi are also very good players who can still improve. I was particularly disappointed that Ikwuemesi did not start the first match against CIV, and in what appears to be a decent game for him in the game against Ghana which showed his link-up play as very good, and how he troubled the Ghanaian defenders and kept them tight on their toes, he was summarily substituted barely 3minutes into the second half rather strangely and too early… I personally thought he would have used his energy and direct play to better efficiency in the second half where we had more scoreable chances at goal… I cannot understand why it appears he was relegated in the striking role for FE when reports has it that he was the most efficient marksman heading into the tournament… youth team coaches as part of their tutelage to youngsters should also help to instill support and confidence for young talents by believing in them and not showing a rather impatient attitude with these youngsters. If we had the addition of Amoo, Olusegun and Said Ibrahim as well Abduljabbar from the last U-17 team avaialable… it would have been a different story for the lads. Somehow, these last mentioned players are now in Scandinavia (Said, Olesegun, and Amoo) and Portugal (Abduljabbar) and if NFF is proactive, their releases could have been possible from their clubs if pursued in good time with good professional cooperation with the clubs… most of these European clubs like their players to continue to develop and are always happy if they continue to get invited to the National youth setups as this even increases the player’s profile and clearly most of these clubs are in football largely for good business, which player exposure in international tournaments serves. In my opinion… NFF can still keep the team together even if Ghana plays accord with CIV to oust Nigeria, as I believe Ghanaians will want to do, since they were dominated by our boys in the pay and may feel if they give FE another life line, it may come back to haunt them as I do not think a second matchup will favour Ghana in a final against Nigeria. The matches played against CIV and Ghana revealed our boys to be the better side in both instances… we have been upended by ill luck, bias officiating and lack of attention to details on the part of some of the boys… the attack generally never came to party in their games with high ratio of wastefulness and the goalkeeper was clearly at fault for the goal scored by Ghana as his positioning was just reminiscent of Akpeyi’s dumbo against Algeria. Finally I will not blame Ladan Bosso… the pitch never allowed good football, CAF has their match officials sounded to frustrate Nigeria out, and we could gain from the tournament by engaging these boys still… NFF should organise an invitation tournament of 4 national u-20 teams for these boys sometime next year wbefore the main CAF U-20 Afcon is takes place. We could invite Gambia, who has qualified to the main tournament in Mauritania, and further invite from Mali, Senegal, Cameroun, Zambia and Sounth Africa. NFF can also push to get Nigeria U-20 invited for the next Toulon festival always held in France for U-20/U-21 team. If we can always do this for U-17, U-20… that age group will be kept active and alive, and we could always spot a talent or two for the future u-23 and Super Eagles. We must continue to do things differently in Nigeria and have a sustained active youth football department. However… with politicians like Amaju Pinnick at the helms of affairs, where every FIFA grant that comes in is pocketed and shared with constant complain of funds paucity by NFF highups… we may continue to underperform at youth competitions for the foreseeable future.
For today’s WAFU AFCON qualifier, you can see it live @AFCON TV. Use the link i provided previously.
OK bro… Will follow. I really love grassroot football