Germany spied on F/Eagles before World Cup-Ndidi

Flying Eagles defender Wilfred Ndidi has given an insight into why they fell to the Germans and crash out of the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Round of 16.
The lanky defender said the Germans had spied on the Nigeria U-20 before the tournament and therefore had a tactical edge during the Round of 16 match, which they won 1-0.
Having won the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the 2015 U-20 African Championship with largely the same team, Nigeria was among the favourites to win U-20 World Cup, which ended last week in New Zealand.
Nigeria began the tournament losing 4-2 to Brazil, who were eventually beaten 2-1 in the final by Serbia. Nigeria went on to thrash North Korea 4-0 and beat Hungary 2-0 in their last two group games.
While many Nigerians have remained puzzled by the African champions’ poor outing at the World Cup, Ndidi, in an interview with our correspondent noted that the Germans got vital information about their Nigerian opponents cheaply during the Flying Eagles pre-tournament tour in Germany.
Coach Manu Garba had led the Nigeria U-20 team on a training tour to Germany, where he and his crew perfected their tactics and selected the players that made the final 21-man squad for the tournament.
During the tour the Flying Eagles played and defeated three German Bundesliga age-grade outfits – Hoffenheim, Nurnberg and Freiburg – scoring 14 goals in the process.
After spending about 25 days in Germany, the Flying Eagles travelled to New Zealand, where they stood a good chance of meeting the Germans. Nigeria was in Group E, while Germany was in Group F.
Eventually, Nigeria finished second in Group E and were bound to meet Germany, who finished top of Group F.
Ndidi, who played every minute of Nigeria’s four games in the World Cup, said the pre-tournament tour exposed them to the Germans, who he said had the superior tactics when they met.
The Genk of Belgium defender said, “It was just tactics that the Germans used to defeat us. We did our pre-tournament tour in Germany and we defeated all the clubs we played in Germany. I believe the national team must have got vital information on how we played from those clubs and used the information against us. Individually, the Germans were not better than us but their tactics worked against us.”
Apart from the Germany slip, Ndidi said the high expectations of Nigerians worked against the team at the World Cup.
He said some of his teammates became over-confident and complacent before their first game in the tournament.
“When people expect too much, it becomes difficult for players. Due to the expectations of Nigerians, we were over-confident before our first game against Brazil,” he said.
“The mindset of some players was that no team could beat us because we were good and strong. So complacency began to set in and I guess it was the complacency and over-confidence that made us lose the game.”
Ndidi said the entire team, including the technical crew, should take the blame for the poor outing but pleaded that the team should not be disbanded.
“In football, sometimes you lose to know what your lapses are. We did well at the U-17 World Cup; we did well in Senegal; that we did not do well in New Zealand is not enough reason to disband the team. Winning all the time is a bad thing. Sometimes you lose to know how to win again,” he said.
Ndidi, who is among the eight U-20 players called up by coach Samson Siasia to join the Nigeria U-23 team, said he now looks forward to making an impact for Nigeria at the Olympics.
Copyright PUNCH