“I want you to understand that we are defending champions and we will not settle for the less”, the NFF board member said.
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“Considering it was the first match, I think it was a good game”. At half time I told my players to believe in themselves, and it worked, because we were more precise. The defensive woes continued in the 61st minute when, after an American goal kick was headed directly back to Osimhen, he muscled off two USA defenders and slid the ball past American Keeper William Pulisic and capped the scoring for Nigeria.
Speaking before Golden Eaglets’ departure to Santiago on Tuesday for the Federation Internationale de Football Association U-17 World Cup Chile 2015, Lagunju said matter-of-factly that the embassy staff, particularly Elekwachi Ndubuisi, Felicia Ezeorah and Abolaji Olawunmi, were very impressive in the discharge of their duties.
A scoreless opening 45 minutes saw plenty of chances go begging for both sides.
The winning goal arrived 10 minutes from when Jang Jaewon rifled home a left-footed from close range to send the Koreans top of Group B.
He called on the players to stay focused, avoid all distractions and put their globally acknowledged skills, ability and doggedness on display against the United States of America on Saturday, Chile on October 20, Croatia on October 23 and in all their subsequent matches to win the tournament and “give millions of soccer-loving Nigerians the ideal end-of-the-year gift”.
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With more possession at their disposal and better display, the Eaglets just after the hour-mark doubled their lead and this time it was through their star striker, Victor Osimhen.
