U-17 Afcon: Nigeria’s Nduka Ugbade opens up on lessons from Burkina Faso loss

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Nigeria U-17 national team coach, Nduka Ugbade says he isn’t disappointed with his wards’ performance despite missing out on the FIFA U-17 World Cup qualification ticket.

The Young Etalons took the few opportunities that came their way to defeat Nigeria 2-1 in a gritty Africa U17 Cup quarter-final duel in Algiers on Thursday.

Aboubacar Camara to put Burkina Faso ahead on the dot of halftime before doubling the advantage 11 minutes into the second half to guarantee the progression of the Young Etalons despite Abubakar Abdullahi consolation.

The loss ended Nigeria’s quest to win its third African title with Ugbade left to pick the pieces of their broken hearts.

Reflecting on the unfortunate defeat to Burkina Faso, the manager admitted they would have had a better result if they were more clinical in front of goal.

“The players are disappointed of course because they are young but we must support them because they need to continue their careers,” Ugbade told CAFOnline.com.

“We should work on their development because I believe that some of these players will eventually move to the senior national team. I am happy with the performance of our players and in such competitions, even if you lose, you gain something by developing the players for the future.

“Everything worked as we had planned, but we could not score with the chances we had. We paid dearly for that. We learn the lessons and move on.”

Burkina Faso will now face Senegal in the semi-final.