Golden Eaglets coach Nduka Ugbade believes his team have the mental edge following their 1-0 win over Zambia in their Group B opener at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.
A goal separated both teams in Constantine on Sunday evening with Favour Daniel’s strike in the 76th minute giving the Eaglets the needed victory.
Ugbade pointed out that a psychological advantage thumps any other factor in the game.
“Most of the times, for the young teams, the most important thing is psychology. Not physicality, tactics or anything. Winning the first game gives us a mental edge and psychologically, we are better than we started,” the former Remo Stars coach said on the CAF website.
“African football has really developed and all teams are strong now especially in Youth football. We played a very tough game against Zambia and anyone could have won.
“Of course there were some mistakes and you will definitely have many of them at this stage of development.
“We created lots of chances that we couldn’t finish, some passes were not correct and many more errors. But the good thing is that we keep improving.”
FULL-TIME! ⏰
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— #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 2023 ???? (@CAF_Online) April 30, 2023
Ugade also stressed on the need to take each game one after another, with the ultimate aim of reaching the semi-finals to book at spot at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in November.
“Of course we have the targets to win, but we need to go a step at a time,” he continued.
“We focus on the next match and if we win we are in the quarters. We get to the quarters we win and we are in the World Cup.”
The Eaglets can book their place in the quarter-finals with victory over Morocco on Wednesday. The North Africans defeated South Africa 2-0 to give them control of Group B.
