We are close to beat Eaglets:Sewede Coach

Coach Roland Larsson has rued his side’s 3-3 draw
with the Golden Eaglets, whom he said should have
been beaten in yesterday’s Group F match at the
FIFA U-17 World Cup here. Speaking at the conference centre, Larsson said
that his superior tactical play almost paid off against
their more illustrious west African foes, who have
won the competition three times. Sounding disappointed with the result, which puts
them on four points heading into their final group
match with Mexico on Friday, Larsson said that his
players deserved all the credit for putting up a
strong
showing against Nigeria, who he described as one of the superpowers of world junior football. “It sounds so funny that one can feel disappointed
when you play a good draw against Nigeria. We
were so close to victory but I am very proud of my
boys and they deserve all the credit because they
followed
all the plan. I am impressed with the individual skills, speed of the Nigerians but we also deserve
some points for this massive show. “We had studied the way Nigeria played at the
Africa tournament and sent some scouts to watch
them in the opening match and we had a plan to
work very close to them. Our plan was to mark
them closely and work
on the wings and it almost worked out. Nigeria is superpower of world football at the junior level but
the wing was the key to stopping them. Three-time champions, the Golden Eaglets came
from the brink of defeat to earn a 3-3 draw with
debutants Sweden in a thrilling Group F match at
the FIFA U-17 World Cup here. In what could go down as one of the exciting
matches (Going by the goals), Sweden raced to a
2-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, courtesy of
two strikes by Varmin Bersha, in the 11th and 19th
minutes, respectively. Musa Yahaya challenges for the ball with Erdal
Rakip of Sweden during the FIFA U17 group F
match between Sweden and Nigeria at Khalifa Bin
Zayed Stadium on October 22, 2013 in Al Ain,
United Arab Emirates. (Photo by FIFA) Not wanting to go down without a fight, the
Eaglets, reduced the deficit to a single digit,
courtesy of a superb volley by African Nations
Championship top scorer Success Isaac, who would
later exit the match due to an injury. With the Swedes exposing the poor defending by
Eaglets’ short and lethargic defenders, Nigeria’s
goalkeeper, Dele Ajampasu was also left at the
mercy of the Europeans, who made use of their
height and strong power play to muscle the Eaglets
in the midfield. With Kelechi Iheanacho failing to find his range and
doing more work in the midfield, it was left for Musa
Yahaya to draw Nigeria level three minutes into the
second half. The goal, a wonderful shot from the 18 yard box,
beat goalkeeper Sisten Mohlin in goal for the
Swede. In retrospect, he should have done better
with the ball but great credit to Yahaya for having
the courage to strike in the shot at a time that
Nigeria’s attempt to play possession football was not working. As Eaglets pushed for the winner, Mirza Halvadzic
edged Sweden 3-2 up in the 65th minute, a goal
that silenced the Nigerian fans, who before that
goal believed that victory was on their way. But Eaglets kept on prodding for the equalizer and
deservedly got it nine minutes from regulation time
through Taiwo Awoniyi. Both teams looked for the winner but at the end of
regulation time, the scores were 3-3, leaving
Eaglets staying at the top of the table ahead of
Friday’s final group games.

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