From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Nigeria’s former international, Mutiu Adepoju has urged the Golden Eaglets to improve in the attacking department ahead of the Brazil FIFA U-17 World Cup competition.
Speaking to Daily Sun sports in Abuja, the former Super Eagles player argued that the team played good football, created chances, but failed to convert their chances, adding that the most important thing is that the team picked one of the four Africa slots.
Asked if he was disappointed with the Eaglets outing, he said: “I was not actually disappointed because as kids, they have done their best. I was impressed with their first two games and the good thing is that they play good football, created chances, but the only problem they had was that they found it difficult to convert those chances.
“It would have been good if they had played in the finals or even win the trophy, but we should celebrate them for picking one of the four slots for the international tournament. I am confident that they will correct the mistakes and lapses they noticed at the continental edition before the junior World Cup in Brazil,” he said.
On what the team should improve, he said: “What I feel they should correct before the World Cup is in the area of being clinical in their finishing. We have crop of boys that play with enthusiasm, create chances, but what they need to correct is falling back to defend after an attack.
“Again, if the strikers start scoring the goals, the defenders will not be under pressure. These are the few areas I think the coaches should start working on before the tournament. Essentially, the strikers should be clinical in attack,” he said.