Mozambique coach Dairo Monteiro hails players despite humbling defeat to Nigeria

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Head coach of the Mozambique U-20 team, Dario Monteiro has heaped praises on his players despite a 2-0 loss to Nigeria at the 2023 U-20 African Cup of Nations in Ismailia on Saturday night.

The Mozambicans were participating in their second TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations following their debut in Mauritania in 2021 saw their outing come to an unfortunate end after a defeat to the West African B champions.

The Young Os Mambas played out a goalless draw with hosts Egypt in its opening Group A encounter before defeats to Senegal and Nigeria condemned the Southern Africans to an early exit from the competition.

“We’re disappointed because we expected to win and at least to score but we didn’t manage to score so we are disappointed we conceded two goals from outside the box,” Monteiro told media.

“I want to congratulate my boys for their effort. I think they gave their best in this tournament – we’re glad to be here.

“It’s not always that Mozambique qualifies for the U-20 AFCON so when you get that experience it’s important for our country and for our players so that they can have experience to develop and to build their careers.

“They’re 18, 19 years old so they need these experiences and they got it and I am happy for that. We hope we can come back often and we can afford to make better results than this occasion.”

Ladan Bosso’s charges scored two sumptuous goals in the first half through Samson Lawal and Ibrahim Muhammad to secure second place in Group A.

Mozambique and hosts Egypt crashed out of the tournament as the record seven-time champions of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations moved six points while Senegal topped the group A with nine points.