TheCable

Australia’s U-17 coach, Tony Vidmar, has blamed a poor first half performance against Nigeria for their 6-0 defeat in the Round of 16 game of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup on Thursday morning.

The Joeys conceded two goals within the space of three minutes while spurning a golden opportunity of their own, before going into the break 2-0 down.

And Vidmar said their performance in the first 45 minutes set the tone for a difficult 90 minutes despite a significant improvement in the second half.

“The disappointing thing is that we didn’t play our game in the first half,” he said.

“When we didn’t have the ball, our pressing was not good enough and that’s allowed Nigeria to have so much more space. Our lines became so much bigger, and that’s what Nigeria thrived on.

“When we had the ball, we turned it over too easily. We said that if we had the ball for too long, they’d run over us because they were much faster than us.”

Peter de Roo, the U-16/U-17 technical director of Football Federation of Australia, said they did not deserve to lose by six goals, given the improved performance in the second half.

“The scoreline was not indicative of the performance,” de Roo said.

“We pressed well, didn’t let them out of their half and were more composed on the ball. The only thing we didn’t do at that stage was score a goal.

“On their first break, they scored, and then we lost that momentum.”

In the second half, Australia improved but they struggled to break down a Nigerian defence that was sitting deep and happy with their two-goal lead. And they paid for it.

Victor Osimhen bagged his brace to make it 3-0. In the final 10 minutes, Osimhen completed his hat-trick, while Edidong Essien and Samuel Chukwueze added one each.