Uruguay coach hails Eaglets

 

Kelechi Iheanacho

Uruguay coach Fabian Coito admitted Nigeria were too good for his side after their 2-0 defeat in the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

Taiwo Awoniyi scored one goal in either half from two Kelechi Iheanacho’s assists as Uruguay struggled to get the ball forward under a barrage of quick attacks from the Nigerians.

Coito told Gulf News  on Sunday, “Nigeria deserved this victory and they move to the next stage of this competition with a good chance. They have a strong team and players with very good skills for this age group.

“The most dangerous side of their game is their rapid movement. We didn’t expect the goals and after the first, suddenly came a second. We tried all game but couldn’t find the goal.

“The players are upset as we didn’t expect to lose and we were playing to win, but we are going to learn from this and recover.

“We wanted to go as far as possible in this competition not just the quarter-finals, but now we start preparation with these players for the next level of development, which is the U-20 national team.”

Joint-record three-time champions Golden Eaglets will play World Cup debutants Sweden in Tuesday’s semi-finals, a side with which they have already drawn 3-3 in the group stages of this competition.

Nigeria coach Manu Garba said, “I’ve always said these boys will get better as the tournament progresses and now Sweden must get ready to face more fireworks.”