U-20 World Cup: Falconets respond to change, show class over England -Ugbade
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NDUKA Ugbade Nigeria’s first football captain of the U-17 squad, the Golden Eaglets, has commended the national U-20 girls for responding to change by beating England’s Young Lionesses 3-0.
Ugbade captained the U-17 squad that won FIFA’s World Cup in 1985.
He was reacting to the steady progress made by the Falconets at the ongoing FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Poland.
Recall that Nigeria’s Falconets had on Sept. 13, defeated New Caledonia 10-1 during the group stage.
The Falconets have to shrug off their lethargic beginning, when they lost to France, to a more commanding win in subsequent matches.
Nduka gave his thought in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos.
The Nigeria’s U-20 girls, the Falconets , had on Thursday, walloped their English counterparts 3-0 to zoom into the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Tosin Rafiu opened scoring in the 8th minutes with a composed finish, to put Nigeria 1-0 ahead, while Janet Akekoromowei doubled the lead in the 47th minute.
Substitute Mary Mamudu, introduced in the 61st minute for Ramotalahi Kareem, made it a hartrick of goals for Nigeria in the 73rd minute, to complete the rout over the Young Lionesses.
An impressed Ugbade, also a former coach of the U-17 national team, the Golden Eaglets, commended the girls for a quick response to the game.
“Congratulations to the Falconets today, they went, they did the unexpected by winning the 3-0 again.
“It is good that this team responded to changes and challenges, they did not start well, but the only constant thing in life is change.
“Now we are talking about reformation of our football, so you will be expecting things to change.
“The day you agree that things are bad and we have to change it, that same day, things start to change, first thing is to agree that the situation is bad and need a change,” he said.
Ugbade noted that the Falconets had done the right thing by playing with more consciousness and winning their games.
“The team did what they needed to do, winning their matches after the first loss; that is the way to go, they should continue with that trajectory.
“I also commend the technical crew for doing the right thing, by ensuring a turnaround in the team,” he said. (NAN)
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Tags: Falconets