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Golden Eaglets head coach Eboboritse Uwejamomere has asked Nigerians for forgiveness following his team’s disappointing campaign at the 2026 WAFU B U-17 championship in Burkina Faso.
The Golden Eaglets crashed out in the group stage of the regional tournament which served as qualifiers for the 2027 U-17 AFCON in Morocco.
Going into their second group match against Côte d’Ivoire on Saturday, the Golden Eaglets needed a win to progress into the semifinals. The team had lost 2-1 to Niger Republic in their opener.
But the Golden Eaglets could only secure a 1-1 draw which saw them crash out of the WAFU B tournament.
Also, failure to make it to the U-17 AFCON means the Golden Eaglets will not be at the 2027 U-17 World Cup, a tournament they last made an appearance in 2019.
Reflecting on his team’s poor outing, Uwajamomere said:”Obviously, the first impressions are unhappiness, disappointment. Now we are out of the tournament and more bigger picture is that we won’t go to the U-17 AFCON next year, we are unhappy and very disappointed overall.
Also Read: 7 FIFA U-17 World Cups Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets Have Missed
“For my players, obviously young boys, 15, 16 year olds, they still have years ahead of them. This is like the first chapter of their career going into elite football. So it’s just to learn from this and just use this as an experience going forward in their career.
“For the fans back home, it’s a bitter feeling, a lot of them probably hate us right now but this is normal because they are fans, they are proud Nigerians, they want and they expect us to win every game, every tournament, that’s normal, back home I will feel disappointed.
“The only thing I can say to them is to forgive us because the disappointment they feel I’m also feeling, my players are also feeling the same disappointment.”
By James Agberebi
