Under-17 AFCON: Golden Eaglets Coach Expresses Relief After Beating South Africa

Coach Nduka Ugbade said he is relieved after the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria defeated South Africa 3-2 on Saturday to advance to the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals.

The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria bounced back to winning ways after falling 1-0 to Morocco in their second game of the competition’s group stage.

On Saturday, Nigeria were on the verge of losing the chance of making it out of Group B and also the chance to fight for the Under-17 World Cup ticket. But they were able to bounce back twice to beat the Young Bafana Bafana 3-2 in Algeria.

Nigeria finished second in Group B and qualified for the knockout round thanks to the thrilling win.

After helping the Golden Eaglets to book a place in the quarter-finals, Nduka Ugbade told CAFOnline on Sunday that he was pleased to see his squad finally finding their rhythm and scoring three goals after failing to score against Morocco despite having countless scoring opportunities.

He said, “It was a really tough match because South Africa is a really good team and they gave us a tough time. They have three players that are really good; Mabena (Siyabonga), Mkhawana (Vicky), and Dokunmu (Michael). They are very talented players and I was honestly scared of them at first.

“We worked a bit in training and we did some corrections. We realized that it was purely psychological and we talked to the players and we saw an improvement today. We might have conceded two but I am glad we scored three”.