Flying Eagles head coach Paul Aigbogun is disappointed to see his charges ended their campaign at the 2019 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Niamey on a negative note, following a 5-3 penalty shoot-out defeat to South Africa in Saturday’s third-place match.
The West Africans dominated proceedings inside the Seyni Kountche Stadium but were unable to break down the Amajita who were resolute in defence. And Aigbogun regrets that his team’s outing in Niger ended with a defeat.
Penalty shoot-out was required to determine the winner after both teams failed to find the back of the net in regulation time.
It was however the South Africans that carried the day scoring all their five penalties with the impressive Ibrahim Alhassan missing for Nigeria.
A visibly disappointed Aigbogun laments his side’s inability to score before full-time despite their obvious dominance.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t score during the ninety minutes and it goes to penalties like the semi-final and it’s anybody’s game, and unfortunately, we lost,” Aigbogun stated during his interaction with the media after the game.
“I don’t think you can train penalties well. Our first penalty taker lost and he has been taking all our penalties.
Nigeria and South Africa, alongside with the two finalists – Senegal and Mali, will be the continent’s representatives at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland in May.