LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-Alhaji Adam Mouktar Mohammed, chairman of the FCT Football Association, has questioned the Flying Eagles’ performance in their 0-1 quarterfinal loss to South Korea at the ongoing 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.
Nigeria’s national U-20 squad was aiming for its first semi-final appearance since the Flying Eagles reached the championship match in 2005, where they fell to a Lionel Messi-led Argentina team 0-2 in the finals.
Sun Choi’s goal in the fifth minute of extra time sent the seven-time African champions down, despite the fact that the Ladan Bosso-trained team had controlled play from the beginning until the end of the game.
Mohammed, a member of the NFF Task Force for age-grade national teams, expressed sadness at the defeat and said the nation had lost a generation of players as Nigerian football stakeholders continued to respond to the team’s recent failure.
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According to him, anytime such football disasters happen, most members of such squads go into oblivion and are never seen again.
“This is a huge setback. We are wondering what happened to the team we saw against Argentina. Why I get worried when we lose like this is because a generation of our players get lost and don’t get to be seen again,” he said.
Mohammed, who was hurt by the defeat, emphasized the necessity for a prompt start over while also advocating for a reset of the nation’s football system.
He said, “We need to start over from scratch. Our entire football infrastructure is unquestionably broken and needs to be restored. It is concerning that we have fallen short at all levels in both male and female sports.
“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not being negative. Naturally, football is a game where you either win or lose, but when it happens often and we brush it off and offer justifications without providing a follow-up evaluation and explanation, we are not being fair to the supporters and the country“, he argued.
