Nigeria’s Under 17 assistant coach Nduka Ugbade has affirmed that the Super Eagles have some measures to go in improving their quality on the field in order to achieve positive results.
Following the AFCON semifinal defeat to Algeria, Ugbade noted that the Super Eagles failed to connect in the final third and string passes together as the High pressure from the desert foxes cut off the fluidity of Gernot Rohr’s boys.
He highlighted the need for Nigeria to improve in the tactical, technical and physical department, while also noting that there were flashes of brilliance in the Super Eagles squad which should be capitalized upon in the third-place playoff against Tunisia on Wednesday at the Al-Salam stadium.
While commenting on the areas that need improvement, he encouraged the Super Eagles to work more on ball distribution to avoid soaking up pressure.
“Our team still needs some little improvement, we have players who know how to work extra hard and if the game had gone into extra time, we could have won 2-1 and moved on into the final”
“Our ball circulation was very slow and we were not moving the ball at a wonderful speed, we also could not make so many passes without the Algerians interrupting our passes and then attack us. Even when we want to attack, it is with slow pace which gives the Algerians enough time to recover”
“We fought gallantly and were solid at points in the game but we didn’t retain the ball which made the Algerians play us on high pressure in the first half. We still have much to achieve with our ball intelligence but I think that we now have the opportunity to work on this for the near future”
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