ZAMBIA Under-17 National Team coach Ian Bakala has described as painful the narrow 1-0 defeat to Nigeria in the opening fixture at the ongoing Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.
Bakala however noted that he was impressed with the team’s performance despite having started the youth AFCON on a shaky note.
Nigerian young star Favour Daniel stunned Zambia in the 89th minute to give Nigeria the win in a Group B fixture.
Speaking during the post-match interviews, Bakala said his lads accounted for themselves well despite having lost focus in the dying minutes of the game.
Bakala said the Junior Chipolopolo would work on the mistakes made in the first game Nigeria as they prepare for the South Africa clash tomorrow.
“It was a very tough and tactical game. The boys played well despite the loss and I feel they accounted for themselves well. It is a painful defeat in that it is an opener but we concede defeat. We really wanted to start on a good note but things couldn’t go as planned and that is how football is,” Bakala said.
“Anything is possible in football and if you look at how that goal came, our goalkeeper couldn’t do anything because the angle was tight. We need to work on a few mistakes we made before we face South Africa. It will be important for us to bounce back strong against our rivals in South Africa on Wednesday.”
Bakala said the boys were not clinical enough to get a win in the first game.
“We missed a number of chances in front of goal of which I feel we could have gotten an equaliser but as you know, football is a game of chances. The pitch was okay despite my other players struggling because it was the first playing on such turf. We have lost but we put aside this defeat and focus on the next assignment. We shall have to prove ourselves against South Africa,” said Bakala.
Meanwhile, Nigeria coach Nduka Antony described Zambia as a tough opponent that gave his side a tough time on the field of play.
“Zambia is a strong opponent that plays some good football. They gave us a good game and we were just luck not to concede. We created a number of chances in front of goal but the Zambia defence was solid. Yeah, it’s normal to miss a penalty in football and we can’t blame the boy because we managed to pick up maximum points,” Antony said.
He said African football had greatly improved and implored CAF to continue in the same trajectory.
“African football has developed a lot and the game against Zambia showed how much we have improved as a continent. The future of our game as Africa is bright and we implore and commend CAF to continue in the same trajectory,” said Antony.
After round one of group matches, Morocco tops Group B on three points tied with Nigeria but enjoy a superior goal difference.
Zambia are third on the group without a point same as rivals South Africa who they are scheduled to meet tomorrow in a match set to kick off at 21:00 Hrs.
