Nigerian coaches dissect Flying Eagles after AFCON semi-final loss

Following the Flying Eagles ouster from the ongoing Africa U-20 Championship in Niger, some Nigerian football coaches have called for immediate rebuilding of the team, if they are to succeed at the 2019 FIFA junior World Cup in Poland.

The seven time African champions were eliminated from the 2019 U-20 AFCON after losing 3-4 on penalties to Mali in one of the semifinal matches decided on Wednesday.

Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, football coach and proprietor of Youth Arise Football Academy, YAFA, Olagbemiro Olayinka blamed the team’s failure on lack of technical depth on the part of the coaches and players.

“Yes, the team and the Technical crew should be disbanded. The coaches lack technical knowledge of present day football.

“In every department the boys were poor. There was a lot of individuality in the game. They couldn’t even put the ball on the ground.

“So you wonder what have they have been taught or learned. Even a single normal basic shot could not be executed by our strikers.

“You see the boys are old. They can’t play fast football with high tempo and cohesion. We did not even have a creative midfielder so there was no creativity in the team,” he stated.

On his part, a former Gabros and Udoji United coach, Peters Oche said “The U-20 team we saw at the championship didn’t look like a Nigerian team. With the abundant young players we have in Nigeria, it is clear the coaches picked only the club players known to them.

“I don’t believe the coaches took their time to look at the academies we have around the country and I doubt if they selected players from the youth teams in Nigeria.

“The coaches should go back and pick good and young players who can do well in Poland. With these over aged players, we can’t go far at the world championship,” he opined.