Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets’ head coach, Fatai Amoo has blamed his side’s not-too-impressive performance at the just-concluded WAFU Cup U17 tournament in Togo on a lack of adequate exposure.
The Eaglets were runners-up at the sub-regional tournament which was won by their counterparts from Ivory Coast.
The Nigerian campaigners played a total of four matches en route to the final, drawing one, winning one and losing two, both to the eventual winners, Ivory Coast.
Amoo said if his wards had had the same quality of preparation as the Ivorians, they would have performed far better.
“Lack of exposure was the main undermining factor that hindered the players from performing to the optimum.
“Eighty five percent of the players had their first exposure to outside competition at the tournament.
“Majority of the players boarded plane for the first time in their lives on our way to the tournament.
“Just two or three of them were somehow exposed having participated in the NFF U15 Zenith competition.
“So it was expected that they would suffer stage fright at the competition in Lome, Togo.
“The players were not completely bad, we have good team who would have performed far better than they did if we had stayed together in camp as our challengers did.
“We have noted the lapses as well as the mistakes which will be corrected once the players are given more time together as well as another chance.
“I’m sure they will step up on their performance than currently in subsequent competitions,” said the former U23 (Olympic team) coach.
The Eaglets next assignment is the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U17 in Morocco from March 13-31, 2021.
