Emma Njoku
Coach Manu Garba is growing grey hairs over the defence department of the Golden Eaglets despite the team’s 4-2 victory in their last tune up match against South Korea.
The Nigerian team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Sao Paulo youth team in their first warm up game since their arrival in Brazil ahead of the FIFA U17 World Cup which will kick off on October 26.
Although the game against South Korea was an improvement on that of Sao Paulo, Garba noted the need to screw up his back line before the commencement of the world cup. The Golden Eaglets conceded 13 goals during the zonal qualifiers and U17 AFCON.
The two-time U17 World Cup winner admitted that his team needs to improve in defensive coverage and how to deal with corner kicks.
‘’It is a good omen, good omen in the sense that we lost the first match against Sao Paulo 2-1,’’ Manu Garba said.
‘’We were able to travel two and a half hours to play a match, without stress, we were able to win 4-2 against South Korea.
‘’It is not the winning that matters, but the way we came back into the game because we were 2-1 down. We came from behind, leveled up and we scored two other quick goals.
“But even with the win, we still have areas to address, especially our defensive coverage and we must try to solve problems of corner kicks too. If you noticed, we conceded one of the goals from a corner kick, one from a penalty kick. Most, importantly, the win will go a long way to motivate the team before the World Cup proper.