Nigeria Content Online

Joe Erico, coach of
Lagos United, Nigeria’s representatives at the ongoing International
Youth Football tournament taking place in Lagos, has blamed his side’s
2-1 loss to Liberty FC of Ghana to lack of proper knowledge of his
players.

Erico, assistant
coach of Nigeria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles, under
Shuaibu Amodu at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations in Mali, said he barely
knew his players. “I just met the team 12 days ago and I don’t even
know some of their names,” he said. “I chose to coach this team because
a saw it as an opportunity to promote grassroots sports.” He went on
further to say that the boys were handpicked, noting that of the “170
players that were invited, only 17 were picked.”

Captain of United,
Thomas Kanu, agreed with his coach noting that though he is excited to
be playing in the tournament, he is disappointed by the loss to Ghana.
He attributed the inability of his team to score goals to the fact that
the players still do not understand themselves well. “We just started
playing together 12 days ago. We were given opportunity to go on
holiday before we started camping,” Kanu said.

Felix Aboagye, coach of the Ghanaian side, expressed delight at his
team’s participation in the tournament noting that his team’s victory
over Nigeria was the result of deep understanding among his players.
“We have been together for quite a long time and these set of players
have been playing together for the past three years, therefore they
know each other well,” he said. Yaw Preko, captain of Liberty FC said
he was satisfied with the victory over Nigeria. “We are happy we won
this game. We came to Nigeria to win,” he said