Aliyu Zubair, Flying Eagles coach, says his team were not lucky after they lost 1-0 to Norway on Monday.
The Flying Eagles played their first game at the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup on Monday night, a match full of intrigues. Norway got the only goal of the game through a penalty after Nigeria had struck the woodwork and two penalty appeals did not go to Nigeria’s favour. Still the Nigerian coach had words of commendation for his boys.
“The boys played their hearts out. They did everything humanly possible to make sure we won the match.
“Even from the start, we created chances, but unfortunately our efforts kept hitting the bar. It just felt like we weren’t lucky,” said Zubair
The Nigerian boys returned to the second half with vigour and dominated the game but failed to find a breakthrough as the Norwegians were compact. Zubair acknowledged the reality that possession alone does not win games.
“Possession doesn’t win matches. If just one of our attempts had gone in, it would have changed the situation,” he noted. “But that is the way the game comes, and we have to take it as it is.
“We are going to think about the next match. We just have to pick up the three points,” he concluded.
Next for the Flying Eagles is the second game against Saudi Arabia on Friday October 3 at the Estadio Fiscal de Talca.
