Obuh regrets missed chances
1 August 2011
Flying Eagles coach John Obuh rued missed chances by his team as Nigeria boss Samson Siasia demanded more from them at the U20 World Cup.
African champions Nigeria led from the front as they became the first team from the continent to win at Colombia 2011 following a 5-0 thumping of debutants Guatemala Sunday in Armenia.
A first-half brace by Edafe Egbedi and goals from Abduljaleel Ajagun, Olanrewaju Kayode and Ahmed Musa completed the rout after the interval as Nigeria got off to a flying start.
“We had chances to have won this game 7-0 even though we had two goals disallowed,” said Obuh.
“We have taken the first step in our mission and now we’re looking forward to the next game because winning our first game does not qualify us for the next round of the tournament.”
Obuh said Guatemala are a decent side who with a little more exposure could be a force to be reckoned with soon.
“They are a good team but we had to beat them to get our campaign on track,” he said.
“I believe that lack of exposure may be their problem, but at the same time I believe they could still do well in this tournament if only they could put behind them the result against us.”
Eagles handler Siasia arrived in time from the 2014 World Cup draw in Brazil to watch from the stands of the Estadio Centenario in Armenia as the African champions simply outclassed Guatemala.
“It’s a good start to win 5-0 in any match, not to talk of at the World Cup,” said Siasia, who will be in Armenia till Friday when he will jet out to London ahead of the Ghana friendly.
“But we need to try and retain possession more as we were losing the ball once too often and we played a bit apart. I have spoken to John (Obuh) about these and I hope that in the next game they would have corrected these.”
Guatemala coach Ever Almeida conceded defeat, admitting the speed of the Nigerians was a great source of concern.
“We knew that it will be a tough match because of the speed of the Nigerians. This was always going to be a problem for us,” he said.
“We were slow in defence and so in the second half we played five defenders as against four in the first half, but we could not stop Nigeria.”
He added: “We are very disappointed with this result but we hope to lift our spirits so as to do a better game against Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.”
The Saudis moved to second place behind Nigeria in Group D after a shock 2-0 win over seeded side Croatia.
The cagey clash was only decided in the second half when the Saudis put away two chances.
While I look forward to Wednesday's game against Croatia, let me here give kudos to my namesake, John Obuh, for his defensive plan against Guatemala, which saw his defenders prevent the debutants from doing any damage with the constant supply of long balls into our vital areas, probably to conceal their deficiency in the mid-field.
And this advice: Please, play Croatia as if Nigeria lost 0-5 to Guatemala, and it will be wonderful, by the grace of God.
Bring on the Arabians..I can't Wait...its always so good to win..we expect more from those promising John Obuh Boys...they all give us something to cheer...Up 9ijaa Bam-Bam !!
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