Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba

Nigeria coach Manu Garba believes the Flying Eagles were on the verge of beating Brazil for the first time at the U-20 level but for the costly mistakes from goalkeeper Joshua Enaholo that gave the South Americans two goals in the second half in Monday’s World Cup tie in New Zealand.

Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Judivan and Boschilia for Brazil, and two from Isaac Success and Musa Yahaya for Nigeria put score at 4-2, confirming the South Americans’ superiority to Nigeria at this level.

Garba, who led the Nigeria team to success at the African Youth Championship earlier in the year in Senegal, said the Flying Eagles had more chances to score than their opponents.

“It’s a huge disappointment. We carved out the better chances in the first half and we should have led at the break,” Garba said on FIFA.com.

“The first 45 minutes reflected what we’re capable of. We simply made two mistakes that cost us dearly in the second period. All in all we played our part in a really great match and I’d like to congratulate Brazil on their victory; they’re a very good team.”

Brazil coach, Rogerio Micale, admitted the Nigeria team were as difficult as they expected them to be.

He said, “We had expected to face a really good side in Nigeria and we weren’t mistaken on that front.

“We started very well, but then the opposition gradually got on top and prevented us from playing our game. We shored things up in the middle of the park again in the second half and then looked to exploit the wings, which paid dividends.”