Head coach of the Nigeria U17 women national team, Bala Nikyu has
urged his players to improve on their goal scoring abilities ahead of
the FIFA 2014 women World Cup in Costa Rica.
Nikyu in an appraisal of the Flamingoes, after two victories in two
friendly games in Portugal said the team is doing everything possible
to ensure that no stone is left unturned in preparations for the World
Cup.
"I'm happy with the progress so far. Playing two matches and winning
both is good, but not the ultimate. We are not still good enough at
converting chances when we create them, knowing at the World Cup such
chances are not easy to come by - we missed some early chances against
the Portuguese's U14 boys, which if it was at the World Cup could cost
us," he noted.
"Winning the friendly games is not the issue, but watching the games
and knowing where we are lacking, seeing lapses and improving on them
is what I'm after. We had several scoring chances in the first five
minute but lost them. We will continue to work on improving and
creating chances and also converting them," he said.
Ahead of the scheduled friendly matches against Benfica's women club
and Belgium women U17 national team respectively, Nikyu stated that he
is not keen about the pedigree of their opponents but hope to expose
the players with the friendly games.
"We are not after the division where the teams play. I don't know
them, but seeking to learn from every opponent that comes our way on
where and what we are not doing well. We note areas we could still
have problem and try to solve them. We are training well and seeking
to get better for the World Cup," he said.
Nikyu however, appealed to football loving Nigerians for their
prayers, promising that they are all focused on recording success at
the World Cup.
The Nigeria U17 women will trade tackles with Benfica's women club
side on Sunday, March 2 and later travel to Belgium to play its U17
women national team on Tuesday, March 4th.
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