Nigeria’s Flying Eagles suffered a narrow 1–0 loss to Norway in their opening fixture of the FIFA U-20 World Cup on Monday at the Estadio Fiscal, Talca, Chile.
An early setback came in the ninth minute when Rasmus Holten converted a penalty after captain Daniel Bameyi was penalised for handling the ball inside the area. Despite dominating possession and creating multiple opportunities, Nigeria failed to find the equaliser.
Head coach Aliyu Zubairu, reflecting on the result, praised his players for their determination but lamented the missed chances.
“The boys played out their hearts. They did everything humanly possible to make sure that we win the match,” Zubairu said after the game.
“Even when we started all our chances, hitting the upright, hitting the bar. I don’t know, we’re not lucky. The boys did well.”
He admitted that possession alone was not enough to change the outcome, stressing the need to convert opportunities into goals.
“Oh God. Possession doesn’t win matches. If one of the attempts we had at goal had gone into the net, probably it would have changed the situation. But all the same, that is the way it comes. We have to take it that way. But the boys did well. They did well,” he added.
Looking forward, Zubairu turned attention to the team’s second group match against Saudi Arabia.
“We are going to think about the next match against Saudi Arabia. We just have to go for the three-point at stake,” he declared.
Team captain Daniel Bameyi also expressed frustration, noting that luck did not favour Nigeria on the night.
“I guess the first penalty cost us and we had too many opportunities, but we had our chances. I would call it hard luck because we did try our best, but sometimes it’s football and that is how it is sometimes,” he said.
Bameyi emphasised the importance of regrouping for the remaining fixtures.
“We go back and prepare. We still have two matches to go. We go back, strategise, try to see our lapses, and we’ll try to work on that,” the skipper assured.
The Flying Eagles now face Saudi Arabia in a must-win game to revive their hopes of advancing from the group stage.
