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Nigeria’s head coach Nduka Ugbade says winning their opening match at the 2023 U17 Africa Cup of Nations is a huge psychological boost for his boys, and says it sets them up nicely for the rest of the tournament.
The Golden Eaglets won 1-0 against Zambia in Constantine on Sunday, to start their Group B campaign on a high.
“Most of the times, for the young teams, the most important thing is psychology. Not physicality, tactics or anything. Winning the first game gives us a mental edge and psychologically, we are better than we started,” said the tactician.
He admitted Zambia gave them a good run for their money, but reiterates his side did the best they could to earn a win.
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“African football has really developed and all teams are strong now especially in Youth football. We played a very tough game against Zambia and anyone could have won. Of course there were some mistakes and you will definitely have many of them at this stage of development,” noted the former Nigerian international.
“We created lots of chances that we couldn’t finish, some passes were not correct and many more errors. But the good thing is that we keep improving.
He says the motivation for them is to quench a 16-year wait for the title, and battle to be crowned champions for the third time.
But he has warned they must take a game at a time.
“Of course we have the targets to win, but we need to go a step at a time. We focus on the next match and if we win we are in the quarters. We get to the quarters we win and we are in the World Cup,” said the tactician.
This article was updated 3 months ago