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Black Satellites of Ghana head Coach Maxwell Konadu has described Nigeria’s Flying Eagles as a physically built and well organised side, completesports.com reports.
Konadu stated this after the Flying Eagles defeated Ghana 4-2 in their opening group match, at the WAFU B U-20 qualifiers in Côte d’Ivoire on Monday.
The Flying Eagles took the lead in the sixth minute through Olayemi Ayinla but Ghana equalised in the 23rd minute thanks to Mohamed Zaidan.
On the half hour mark the Flying Eagles went 2-1 through Lucky Oraro’s free-kick which was diverted into the net.
The Flying Eagles extended their lead eight minutes later when Muiz Adeleke converted a penalty to give the Flying Eagles a 3-1 advantage at half-time.
Ghana reduced the deficit in the 60th minute through Kelvin Nkrumah’s penalty but Adeleke sealed the Flying victory with his second penalty of the match in the 89th minute.
Speaking during his post-match presser, Konadu admitted that Nigeria played better than his team.
Also Read: WAFU B U-20 Championship: Maikaba Reflects On Flying Eagles’ Win Over Ghana
“We planned to start with the high press to see how our opponent would handle it, in the process we gave away some cheap goals that I think could have been avoided,” Konadu said.
“Haven’t said that we can’t take anything away from our colleagues, they did well I think they played better than we did, we have accepted that. The only thing right now is for us to bounce back and try to win the game that are ahead of us.
“We knew that they are going to come very hard because physically they are built and well organised. Yes, we were organised but then giving away two cheap goals I don’t think we can make headway with that.”
Konadu said they will have to put the disappointing loss to Nigeria aside and focus on their next fixture against Burkina Faso.
He added:“We need to quickly fix that problem and make sure that we play very well from the backline, I think that was the biggest issue we had.”
The Flying Eagles will face Togo’s Junior Sparrow Hawks on Thursday, July 30, at the Yamoussoukro Stadium at 3pm.
By James Agberebi
