Onyekachi Chimezie
Nigeria U-20 women team’s Coach Christopher Danjuma has attributed his team’s World Cup elimination to expensive errors and missed opportunities.
Netherlands defeated the Falconets 2-0 in Alajuela on Sunday night, ending their chances of advancing to the semifinals in Costa Rica following an excellent group stage campaign in which they won all of their games.
In a game when the Falconets struggled to score despite having 27 shots, 11 of which were on goal, head coach Christopher Danjuma acknowledged in the post game press conference that his team was punished for not taking advantage of its opportunities.
“This is football when your opponent capitalises on your mistake and they punish you for that,”Danjuma told a press conference.
“I think we had these few mistakes starting and we were punished for it and we had our chances and we could not take it.
“Football is all about taking your chances. But it is just unfortunate because nobody wants to go into the game and lose. We wanted to go all the way, but it did not happen.”
Coach Christopher Danjuma lauded his team, calling them great athletes, and noted that the Super Falcons future is in safe hands despite the sad result in Costa Rica.
“Phenomenal, excellently phenomenal, wonderful players, they have this hunger, a serious hunger to show themselves and I tell you that Nigeria Is blessed. We have these players coming to play in the future. I think the future of the senior team is secured.”
Zera Hulswit and Ziva Henry goals were the difference as Nigeria failed to make it to the semi-finals of the FIFA U-20 women world cup for the fifth time since knocking out South Korea 6-2 in Canada 8 years ago.
