Nigeria coaches express varying opinions after Flamingos defeat to Germany

The former coach of Nigeria Under 17 girls, Bala Nkiyu and Falconets assistant coach Mansur Abdullahi have offered their honest diverging reactions at the Flamingos’ 2-1 defeat to Germany on Tuesday in Goa.

The Flamingos on Tuesday surrendered a 1-0 halftime lead to eventually bow to Germany in its first group game of India 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and Nigerian women coaches shared varying opinions on the result.

“Scoring the first goal is good for the team but for the German team to come back and equalise to the extent of winning the game if care is not taken, the girls might now become jittery,” said Nkiyu on a monitored program by nigerafootball.net on Brila FM this week.

“In the next match, they might be calculating how they are going to win the next match which might bring out fear.”

Meanwhile, former Super Falcons assistant coach Abdullahi says Nigeria keeps repeating the same mistake resulting in defeats to Germany at all levels in women’s football, stressing that heads should be rolling actually after the loss.

He said: “The worst performance as far as under-age women’s football is concerned is at the U-17 level. The U-20 team has reached the final. For the U-17 team to achieve that, we need to up our game.

“My advise for them is to be focused and be confident that they can win the next game against New Zealand. It’s not yet over for them despite losing the opening game. A good result in the next game will build their confidence.”

Nigeria will next face New Zealand in its second group game in a bid to return to winning ways.

Chile top the group alongside Germany with three points apiece. Nigeria occupy the third position ahead of its next opponent New Zealand on Thursday, October 14.