Ugbade: We lost ‘complete concentration’

Flying Eagles assistant coach, Nduka Ugbade, blames a loss in concentration to the team’s 4-2 defeat against Brazil.

The Eagles’ campaign in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup got off to a shaky start after the heavy loss to the five-time champions Brazil in early hours of Monday.

But Ugbade blames the capitulation on a loss in concentration from his players.

“It was a very bad result the 2-4 loss to Brazil,” he said.

“I never expected it’s going to be like that even though we understand that we are confronted with difficult opponents. It’s not a match we should lose the way it turned out.

“We created several chances but could not maximise the opportunities and got punished. I believe a lot of things went wrong in the clash.

“Discipline is key for any endeavour and we didn’t see more of it especially in the second half of the match.

“The players appeared to have lost complete concentration in the half, a performance that suggested they’re afraid of their opponents.”

Nigeria will play North Korea on Thursday at the Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth and Ugbade accepts it’s now a win-or-bust for the team.

“Right now we are condemned to beat Korea and Hungary to amass six points that will see us progress to the next round of the championship,” he said.