Amunike Admits His Boys Were Afraid Against Mali

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke has admitted that his boys were too cautious of making mistakes in the first half of their game against

Mali, but two second half substitutions produced two goals which gave Nigeria her fifth U17 World Cup in Chile early Monday.

Victor Osimhen, who won the highest goal scorer award, and Funsho Bamigboye were on target for the Emmanuel Amunike boys as they thrashed the African champions 2-0 on the night.

“We wanted to make no mistakes but we lost the ball many times in the midfield in the first half. But I don’t want to complain because they are all kids. We changed some things in the second half and made some substitutions. That brought us more safety in our game,” Amuneke said.

“We are thankful for everything. We wanted to bring the players to their dreams and we did it. Thanks for the support. We feel like we are at home. We have worked very hard for this success and we hope to continue. The players will go home now but their journey is not over yet.

“Personally I’m really happy. I have football in my blood, as a player and as a coach. This is what I want to pass to my players.“

Mali U17 coach Baye Ba said he is proud of his team's achievement at Chile 2015.

“It is the first time Mali reached the final. If you believe that you can win a game, then you are sad when you lose. Nevertheless we can be very proud. Not many teams reached the second place” he remarked.

"It was a tough match. Nigeria were well-placed and we often acted very unorganised. We didn’t pay attention twice and conceded two goals. It is how it is. One team wins because the other team makes mistakes.

“Our goal is to have a senior team who can win. We will continue our work. Everything is installed in our youth programmes so that we will reach another final in the future.”