By John Egbokhan reporting from Sharjah, Dubai
Bitter losers Uruguay are crying foul over their 2-0 quarter-final loss to the Golden Eaglets, who they insinuate are above the U-17 age of the FIFA World Cup holding in the UAE.

After Iran accused the Nigerians of not being teenagers, the current tirade from the Uruguayans is the second stinging attack that the Eaglets were going to get here.

Uruguay players, at the final whistle of their defeat by Nigeria, collapsed to the ground in anguish as if bereaved.

Uruguay’s players react after losing their FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 football match against Nigeria in Sharjah on November 2, 2013. Nigeria won 2-0. AFP PHOTO

Captain Fabrizio Buschiazzo, who admitted that they were not decisive in attack, questioned the true ages of the Nigerians, who showed grit and class in their 2-0 victory in Sharjah,

“We didn’t punch when we needed to. We could not convert and they scored their first goal early. Out of anxiety we ended up going for the result and they hurt us a lot by using that space.

“I am very angry to think that Nigeria are not 17. We are a under-17 team and are better than any other under-17s but not against 35 and 40-year-olds, which is how the Nigerians appeared to be to me”, said Buschiazzo, who added  that “this is not an excuse .but it is clear that they don’t have the age to play”.

Also speaking at the mixed zone, Marcio Benitez stressed that Uruguay was confident to get the result but failed despite “doing everything”. “I don’t know what was missing. I’m very proud but sad not to moved forward. We are going to have revenge,” he said.

Franco Pizzichillo, one of the outstanding players in the tournament for La Celeste, said that “in the first few minutes we had clear chances we could not convert, it changed everything.” He and his team-mates were “very angry” because “the objective was to win the title.

“Now there is no choice but to keep going, keep improving and learning.”

Leandro Otormín could not hide his sorrow at failing to capitalise on two clear chances in the first minutes of the game when the score was still level, but Kevin Méndez found minor consolation in the effort Uruguay had committed to the game.

He said: “We gave everything; none of the players held anything back and gave everything for the best of the squad. That’s a little satisfaction with which to leave this championship.”Striker Franco Acosta added: “Uruguay will go home with our heads held high, knowing we sweated everything we had.”