Former Super Eagles winger, Garba ‘Chindo’ Lawal is picking positives from the youth national team, Flying Eagles’ outing at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, as he believes the squad learnt valuable lessons in Niger Republic, sports247.ng reports.
Although Paul Osahon Aigbogun’s side fell to Mali in the semi-finals on Wednesday, Lawal is of a view that the coach and his wards have useful tips to build on heading into the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.
Lawal said as much during a radio sports programme in Lagos, on which he admitted it was a disappointing for the Flying Eagles not being able to reach the AFCON U-20 final, but recounted how Aigbogun had stated even before the competition began that his priority was the World Cup.
He reasoned that is now up to the coach to show his technical depth by building on what he saw from his players and other teams at the contest in Niamey, then go on to enact better results on the global level in May.
“It is a disappointment that they could not get to the final,” Lawal began,” but I remember that the coach said his target is the World Cup.
“He must have been thinking more of the World Cup than the African championship, so now he has qualified for the World Cup.
“That is not to say he lost everything at the African championship in Niger Republic; because a coach should learn from every match.
“I am sure he and his players have learnt a lot from this championship, so we want to see what they can do when the World Cup finally begins.”
