‘It’s time to reflect on Nigeria U20 Afcon showing ahead of World Cup’ – Nduka Ugbade

Nigeria U17 boys’ head coach, Nduka Ugbade says it’s time for the U20 men’s national team to reflect on what happened in Egypt ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.

Nigeria qualified for the World Cup after a 1-0 win over Uganda in the quarter-final of the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) but, however failed the next hurdle after a 1-0 loss to The Gambia in the semi-final.

Despite billed for a bronze medal match with Tunisia on Friday, the former Flying Eagles assistant coach calls for an appraiser on the team’s campaign at the 17th continental showpiece.

“Since we won it in 2015 with Manu Garba as the chief Coach and assisted him, a lot has happened to the team not being able to win it,” Ugbade told Brila FM.

“One thing that I am quite happy with and was afraid of throughout is the qualification for the World Cup which in the end we did. Now will be time to go back with a lot of reflections on what has happened in Egypt and how far we can go in building a better team because the players are good.”

The Nigeria U-20 side are the most successful team at the U-20 AFCON with seven titles. Unfortunately, the team has not been able to win the title since 2015 under the tutelage of Manu Garba.

On the world stage, Nigeria has reached the final of the FIFA U-29 World Cup twice, losing on both occasions to Portugal and Argentina in 1989 and 2005 respectively.