Nduka Ugbade excited about Golden Eaglets’ U-17 AFCON quarter-final ticket

Ayomikun Elemikan Sports 07/05/2023

Coach of Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets, Nduka Ugbade has expressed his happiness following his team’s qualification for the quarter-final of the ongoing U-17 AFCON, NRTC reports.

The Amajimbos of South Africa led twice during their final group game against Nigeria before the Golden Eaglets rallied back to record a well deserved 3-2 win.

Nduka Ugbade was captain of Nigeria’s 1985 U-17 World Cup winning team. He is also a former Super Eagles midfielder (Image: Osasu Obayiuwana)

During the post-match press conference, Ugbade confirmed he was weary of the South Africans but glad his boys eventually qualified.”It was a tough match because South Africa is a really good team and they gave us a tough time.

“They have three good players; Mabena (Siyabonga), Mkhawana (Vicky) and Dokunmu (Michael). They are very talented players and I was honestly scared of them at first.

ALSO READ: U-17 AFCON: Nigeria beat South Africa 3-2 to book quarter-final place

Coach Nduka Ugbade speaking to the game’s MVP South Africa’s Siyabonga Mabena (Image: Francis Achi)

Coach Ugbade in a warm embrace with Mabena. He said to the young player, “you have a very bright future in football. Allow me to hug, please”. (Image: Francis Achi)

“We worked a bit in training and we did some corrections. We realized that it was purely psychological and we talked to the players and we saw an improvement today.

We might have conceded two but I am glad we scored three,” Nduka Ugbade stated.

Nigeria will face either Burkina Faso or Cameroon on 11th May, 2023 in Algiers.

Cameroon play Burkina Faso in their last group and winner-takes-all match later tonight.