Super Eagles goalkeeper Francis Uzoho is confident the young Nigeria side can conquer the rest of the continent in future following their bronze medal finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, reports Completesports.com.
Gernot Rohr’s men failed to win a record fourth African title in Egypt following their semifinal defeat to the Desert Foxes of Algeria.
The West Africans however recovered to claim the bronze medal after edging out
the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia 1-0 in the Third-Place match.
Uzoho however believes the Super Eagles have what it takes to win the next edition of the competition to be hosted by Cameroon in 2021.
“This competition (AFCON 2019) is a big eye opener for our young squad and I believe we have learnt a lot from this experience, ” Uzoho who made one appearance in Egypt told Completesports.com.
“We came close to making it to the final but for that unfortunate dying minute goal we conceded against Algeria. I believe we will get better and do well at the next edition.
“All we need to do is to keep working hard and maintain our focus. If we do that, then in 2021, we can challenge for the title and possibly win it.”
The Super Eagles will face West African neighbours, Benin Republic, Sierra Leone and Lesotho in Group L of the AFCON 2021 qualifiers.
By Adeboye Amosu
18 Comments
You guys are no more kids, since three years ago we have been hearing that.
We need to stop this young eagles talk right now else Buhari too will come and say young Nigeria economy that is why unemployment is on the rise. For how long will the young never grow before you know it we will turn into Arsenal where we go shopping for u17 and keep making excuses.
And less i forget we still don’t have a goalkeeper in the SE all we have ever since Enyeama left are craps Rohr should go and scout for good talented Goalkeeper with great reflex and a reliable right back as well. As for Striker we are blessed all that is needed is for them to develop their game and watch videos of Suarez and co because great players like Zlatan watched videos of their predecessor.
Our boys need to study to avail and stop this young eagles bullshit!
YOUNG NIGERIA ECONOMY….I don laugh taya!
Dis one wey young no gree grow….e get as e be ooooo! Pikin dey chop, no growth. Where is all the food going? Hahahahaha!
Hmmm… interesting scenario. Young shall grow team. When is Coach Rohr will be fully matured?
This is what we get as long as MR. Amaju and Coach stays. Most especially Oga Rohr. He have brainwashed Nigerians players and his supporters club.
This Super Eagles team have to change their mentalities but it’s going to hard to do that under Oga Rohr regime.
That is why I am going against the refreshing training.
This Oga Rohr “no pattern team” can not getting us results we are demanding from them. God bless Nigeria!!!
Nigeria will parade the youngest team to deliver next Olympics football game
Lolz. Can’t stop laughing lolz. A team that didn’t do well in Russia and in Egypt are expected to do fabulous job at Olympics? Are you kidding me lolz.
I don’t think so bro. God bless Nigeria!!!
Can’t stop laughing. So, the event of world cup was not enough to open eagles eye. Which of the two events is bigger; the world cup or the nations cup. Bro, stop deceiving yourself and stop lying to Nigerian.
Maybe they want to play in the WAFU cup before they can grow up!
When we say a wrong mentality has been passed on to them from the coach, people start throwing tantrums like disapointed lovers.
This is not the first time 20 year olds are playing for the national team, but this is the first time it has been used as an excuse for under performance.
Mark my words: if this coach is still in charge 5 years from now, we will still be hearing this same tune of young squad.
Ride on Mr. Odegbami. I dey your side joo
This same NFF will set another semi final taget for them in AFCON 2021.
We may end up with another bronze and there will be a big party. Fans in this forum will say things like: “wow, we are getting better! Which coach has ever won a bronze medal back to back? We even qualified for the tournament again with 3 games to sapre! Our young team is making us proud…”
Bomboy, U no go kill me with laff! 🙂
You are so funny. You don’t like this coach at all: not entirely rational but totally understandable.
But you are funny sha!
Haba, bronze in 2021 is a good result na! Is it not better than coming home empty handed? Or failing to qualify? That is why they say HALF BREAD IS BETTER THAN NONE. When hungry woz you blow, you go chop that half bread, even without butter. Nigeria no be Germany, or Brazil, or France, or any of these other big football nations. We deceived ourselves into thinking we were giants, but results suggest otherwise. So we have to adjust our expectations! Can you imagine Madagascar setting themselves a target of winning Afcon 2021? They would be considered irrational if they did. Yet, they beat us 2 nil. Granted, we are more distinguished on paper than them. However, when the rubber meets the road, pedigree is set aside for 90 mins. This is why Nigeria was able to beat teams like Brazil, Spain and a Bulgaria with Hristo Stoichkov in the 1990s. If the game was played on paper, we would have stood no chance! My point is, football has gotten so competitive, we can’t expect free lunches anymore. We have to work very hard for anything we want. Even to win TEACUP takes effort nowadays. So, of course out target is to win the Afcon trophy in 2021. But if the boys manage to bring home bronze again, it is worthy of commendation. If you come 3rd in your class in consecutive school terms, will your parents skin you alive, or will they be proud of you? Why should we not treat the Super Eagles the same way?
i wonder ooo. what i know was “young shall grow,” but since 2016 till date i’m learning different phrase, “young shall not grow.”
WARRI WITH TEMPER, WE NOR DEY CARRY LAST. BUT THIS PINNICK CARRY LAST.
You carry 3rd you not happy, did you qualify before at all. I beg.
Arsene wenger said during 2018 worldcup that for a team to win d worldcup majority of the d squad age should be b/w 28/9 ok back to uzoh u guys should stop provoking us with ur outburst how old are you not your football age mind d words you use as GR the stakeholders need to sit down critical analyse his performance passion n plans on how to improve Eagles if he is to stay this is not club football that you hire n fire coaches at will,the coach merely have time to train with d boys due to club engagement,for the fans instead of wasting our time deliberating on GR sack let’s help d national teams coaching crew to scout for good players season is about to start
God bless Nigeria
It is no doubt that it is a young team but that should not be put forward as excuse for any kind of failure anyway. A team having 20 players out of 23 as AFCON debuntants with some considerably young players who can still play under 23 is a young team. I hope the team grows up.
Every day my team is young. Every week my team is young. Every month my team is young and even, every year my team is young. That has turns to our national item now. Even our players doesn’t care no more because they believed that as long as they say my team is young, that is no comment.
I am expecting Olamide to use this quote as his new song. This is what you get when you having former politician in charge of our football and a coach that doesn’t believe in himself. Shio. God bless Nigeria
After all in the present SuperEagles at least I know for sure that Ekong and Balogun are truly 25 and 30 respectively. I’m also certain that Osimhen and Chukwueze are not older than 22 because they went through the Nigerian U13 football systems. They are 20 officially, but I’m sure they both can’t be older than 22. Uzoho was a product of the Aspire academy in Qatar, as well as Onyekuru. Therefore, I don’t think there should be much fuzz about their ages.
The likes of Ebuehi and Idowu came into the SuperEagles with their real ages. Iwobi Ndidi and Etebo are not older than 23. So the team is still relatively young. However, I believe they should be ready starting from next year onwards. By 2021 they will be a contender and one of the favorite for the AFCON where they are guaranteed a place in the semifinals at least, qualify for the WorldCup and hopefully make an appreciable impact in Qatar.
The Olympics qualifiers will be the beginning of that trajectory. They’re already wishing us bad luck at the Olympics. AWỌN ALABOSI. An Olympics football tournament that we’ve won Gold Silver and Bronze. We have a plethora of talents at the U23 level that can make us proud at the Olympics if we qualify. That I can take to the bank any day. Our current U23 team is the closest to the original DreamTeam and it’s a reflection of what the gaffer is doing with our main national team. The likes of Ozonwafor, Utin, Dele Bashiru, Osimhen, Chukwueze, Nwakali brothers, Uzoho, Awoniyi, Dennis, Okereke, Awaziem, Onyekuru, Kalu are all eligible. #FLY LIKE AN EAGLE INTO THE FUTURE#