TheCable

Flying Eagles assistant coach, Nduka Ugbade, has expressed surprise at the Golden Eaglets’ loss of their third-place match against Guinea at the Africa Under-17 Championship in Niger.

The Emmanuel Amuneke-tutored side lost 3-1 in Sunday’s losers’ final to Guinea, who confirmed their supremacy over the Nigerians after both sides played a 1-1 draw in the group stage.

Now, Ugbade, who was in the coaching crew when the last set of U-17 conquered the world in 2013, hopes for a better outing for the team in Chile.

“I’m really surprised at the 1-3 defeat of Eaglets by their Guinean counterparts in the third place match at the Africa Under-17 Championship,” he said.

“I must confess that the result actually pained me as I’ve already envisaged the side winning the bronze to crown their efforts at the championship. However, the happiest thing for me is that we’ve qualified for the World Cup in Chile together with Guinea, Mali and South Africa.”

Though Ugbade agreed that winning the African title was the ultimate prize at the championship, he said qualifying for the World Cup was a consolation.

“At least, they’ll come back home to correct the loopholes that cheated them of the ultimate prize in Niger ahead of the World Cup,” he said.

“They have time to quickly plan for a successful campaign at the World Cup in Chile. They finished as runners-up in the last edition in Morocco and went ahead to emerge world champions in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and now they finished fourth in Niger, so there is prospect of a good performance in Chile.”