Nigeriaโs head coach Nduka Ugbade wants his side firing on all cylinders when they take on South Africa in a crucial Group B fixture at the TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Constantine on Saturday night.
Nigeria need to avoid defeat against the South Africans to affirm their second place in the group, but Ugbade does not want his side taking chances and has affirmed they will be going for a win.
Looking back at their defeat at the hands of Morocco, Ugbade says they have worked to sharpen their forward line to ensure they convert the chances that come their way.
โWe have put the defeat against Morocco behind our backs and we are fully focused on getting a good result against South Africa. We didnโt deserve to lose against Morocco because we dominated the game but couldnโt convert our chances,โ said the coach during Fridayโs pre-match press conference.
He added: โWe want to be more effective, more prolific in front of goal. It is a bit confusing because when we were in Nigeria preparing, we were scoring so many goals but when we came here we are not doing that. Sometimes with these young ones it is about psychology and we have addressed that.โ
Nigeria coach ๐ณ๐ฌNduka Ugbade speaks ahead of Saturday's crunch game against ๐ฟ๐ฆSouth Africa at the #TotalEnergiesAFCONU17 .#SoarGoldenEaglets pic.twitter.com/HxqwRxrAc7
โ The NFF ๐ณ๐ฌ (@thenff) May 5, 2023
Forward Charles Agada, who came on as a substitute against Morocco, said the players have sharpened their scoring boots over the last two days in training.
โWe want to convert the chances that come up for us because against Morocco we didnโt do that well. As a team and as players we are ready for the task,โ he added.
Ugbade meanwhile admits it will be a tactical battle of wits against the South Africans, but remains confident they can do just enough to get over the line.