"I like Nigeria and they are very good technically, which makes them extremely difficult to play against. We were able to keep the ball under pressure and that was our only chance to break through their defence.
In the end, I give congratulations to my team for finding the answer to the problems Nigeria posed us. They deserved the win and I am very impressed with them. I am especially proud of my team's defence today. Of course, our aim is to get to the final in Auckland but to get there we must go step to step and our next step is Mali. The German mentality is to always think this way. I expect Mali to play in quite a similar way to what we saw today from Nigeria. Manu Garba, Nigeria coach I believe that our players learnt a lot from this game and a big lesson in general from the tournament. The level at U-20s is far higher than at U-17s and Germany are a very tough and highly tactical team. Our players lost concentration at the crucial moment and this gave the Germans a chance to score. Our goalkeeper played a great game though and may have saved that ball if he had a clear view, but there is nothing we can do now. All my players have been in great form and I am proud of them all. There have been so many unexpected results in this tournament, but one can never predict the winner. I give my thanks to New Zealand for showing love for our team, the people here have made us feel at home.
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