Eaglets’ draw, a setback — Manu

Golden Eaglets’ head coach Manu Garba has described the 3-3 draw against the Swedish U17 team as a huge setback in his boys’ quest to qualify for the next round of the FIFA cadet World Cup holding in the United Arab Emirates.

Speaking with hordes of journalists at the media centre of the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain yesterday after the drab draw against the European first timer, Manu said his wards played below the enterprising game they had against the Mexicans and has rated them at 60 percent.

The Nigeria U17 handler however promised to work on the deficiencies noticed ahead of the decider on Friday against Iraq in Dubai.

“It was a great setback because we came out to win not to draw, but at times football can be funny and it has gone that way today. I believe that is the way God wanted it to be. We are happy with the draw having come back from two goals down.

“My players played above average I will give them 60 per cent. Because all the three goals we conceded were as a result of loss of concentration which is least expected in the game of this magnitude.”

He also answered questions on the approach deployed by the Swedish team that unsettled his players: “Definitely we knew that the Scandinavian countries always play direct way of football and they operate from the wing and negotiate some pull outs. But no matter the size, if our boys had high level of concentration and were determined to win aerial balls during pull outs from the wings, they wouldn’t have conceded those goals. During our training sessions we shall solve the problem.”

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