Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets on Thursday were knocked out of the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Algeria, after suffering a humiliating 2-1 defeat to their West African Brothers, Burkina Faso, News About Nigeria reports.
The quarter-final performance is said to have triggered the outburst of the team’s goalkeeper, Richard Odoh, who in a post-match review, said his teammates made so many mistakes in the match.
Burkina Faso took the early lead with two goals, before Abukabar Abdullahi responded in the 68 minutes, with Nigeria’s only goal.
However, this was not enough to pin the in-form Burkina Faso side down, as they held on amidst Golden Eaglets’ pressure.
Reacting after the match, Odoh said that the Eaglets did everything possible to get back into the game but failed because of the many errors made in the first half.
“We did a lot of mistakes in the first half but we tried to come back stronger in the second half but the chance didn’t come,” he told sources, noting that “God knows the best for each of us right here and believe we will do our best in the next level where we are going.”
Meanwhile, in another press conference, Nigeria’s Under-17 coach Nduka Ugbade, said that everything worked as the side had planned it, except that they failed to score when they had their chances. “We paid dearly for that. We learn the lessons and move on,” he added.
The defeat to Burkina Faso means that the Eaglets will not be at FIFA U-17 World Cup, to hold later this year.
This will be the third time the boys have failed to qualify for the Under-17 World Cup since 2011, though they won it back-to-back in the 2013 and 2015 campaigns.
With Nigeria and 3 other teams out of the competition, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and Morocco will now represent Africa at the World Cup.
Burkina Faso will also face Senegal in the AFCON semi-finals.
