Nigeria coach Ladan Bosso has heaped praise on Egypt following their 1-0 victory over the hosts in the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday.
The Flying Eagles secured their first points of the tournament after their shock defeat to Senegal at the Cairo International Stadium in the opening round of matches.
Solomon Agbalaka headed in a corner in the last twenty minutes to give the record champions all three points against the wasteful Young Pharaohs who created numerous chances in the Group A clash.
“[Yesterday’s] match was full of tactics, more than the Senegal match,” Bosso said after the match.
“The Egyptian national team is very good and they had many opportunities today, but they did not take advantage of them.
“But in the end, football is changing and most of the time you cannot predict the result,” the Nigerian coach added.
“The result is very important and I don’t think I can say more than that. We focused a lot on winning and we achieved what we wanted.”
Nigeria’s victory sends them to second place behind Senegal who have already qualified following their 3-0 win over Mozambique.
The seven-time champions of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations will be seeking another opportunity to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
“Any player who strives deserves to join the first team. Our main goal is to reach the World Cup, and we strive hard to achieve this goal,” Bosso said.
“I would like to thank the organisers of the tournament and everyone who belongs to this organisation.
“They helped us a lot and I am very grateful to them.”
