By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos.
Moment after the ouster of U-20 national team from final of the AFCON Cup for the U-20 teams in Zambia late this year, the handler Emmanuel Amuneke had expressed disappointment in his boys ouster on Saturday saying he has accepted responsibility for the team’s failure to qualify for the championship proper.
The African champions, last Saturday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos lost 3-4 to their Sudanese counterparts in the second leg final qualifying match of the championship.
They had earlier beaten Sudan 2-1 in Ombudsman two weeks ago and needed only a draw to go through. However with the game ending at 5-5, the North East Africans qualified on away goal rules.
Amuneke told our correspondent shortly after the match that he was disappointed with the result describing it as a bad day for Nigerian football.
“It is unfortunate that my boys failed to live up to expectation. The goalkeeper who manned the post during the U-17 World Cup was also not at his best and this affected our performance.
“I want to say that we played well but the god of soccer prevented us from winning. But I must have to accept responsibility for the failure and appeal to Nigerians for their understanding”, he stated.
On his future plans for the team, he stated that the players are still young and still have a lot to offer to the country not minding their disappointing outing, noting that he will later take a look at what happened in the match to avoid a repeat.
