Eaglets begin hunt for fourth gold

Eaglets

The Golden Eaglets are one of the favourites to win the ongoing 2013 U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates after being world champions three times in the past – 1985, 1993 and 2007.

 Their first match today against defenders Mexico in Al Ain City is considered the star fixture of the group, and indeed of the day. The other Group F match between Iran and Sweden, and the two Group E games – Canada versus Austria and Iran versus Argentina are not as highly anticipated.

While Mexico have an impressive record qualifying for the tournament by conceding just three goals and scoring 14 on their way to becoming CONCACAF champions, Nigeria have no less impressive scoring record, netting 18 goals and conceding just three before losing out 5-4 on penalties to Burkina Faso in the African finals held in Morocco in April.

Nigeria had brandished an intimidating record in the qualifiers before heading to the CAF U-17 finals having 21 goals and conceding just one.

The competition features 24 teams among which are three former champions – Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico. But even as Brazil set the tone of what is to come in the tournament by beating Slovakia 6-1 in the opening game on Thursday, Nigeria coach, Manu Garba, is not in the least intimidated as he insisted that the Golden Eaglets are as good as the best team on parade.

“I have a World Cup champion’s medal after being part of the team that won the 2007 edition of the tournament in Korea. Be that as it may, Nigeria remain the best at this level and this means we have to go out there and do our best once again,” the former El Kanemi Warriors player said from Al Ain City.

“We are not here to just make up the numbers or just participate and go. We want to do well by winning our matches right from the first match. We are going to approach each game as it comes but the most important game for us is the first against Mexico. Thereafter we can focus on Sweden and Iraq respectively.

“To win the World Cup, we must be ready to face any opposition.”

The Nigeria team suffered a setback before leaving for the UAE for their final camping ahead of the tournament when some key players were disqualified from the featuring in the competition for being overage.

Garba admitted he would miss the players, especially after their superb performances during the qualifiers. But he maintained that the team had all it would need to excel at the World Cup.

“We have selected the best players based on what we need at every department and based on the circumstances that we faced before the selection. 

We lost some key players like Ifeanyi Matthew, Izu Omego, Bernard Bulbwa, Emeka Nwanbulu, and Adamu Abubakar due to the MRI test. There was also our first choice goalkeeper, Adeyinka Adewale, who could not make it due to a knee injury. In spite of these, we are going to give a good account of ourselves at this championship.

“The good thing is that the new players in our team have imbibed the team’s philosophy and have justified their inclusion over time.”

He added, “The strength of this team is the fact that we play as a team right from the beginning. Several times, we have played matches without some of our regular and important players like Success Isaac; Musa Muhammed, Musa Yahaya, Kelechi Iheanacho, Chidera Ezeh and others, yet we won.  So we have a collection of young and talented players; we are not a team with just a star player.

“You can’t rule out the fact that there would be one player to look out for as such, I expect Success who was the top scorer at the African Championship in Morocco to do very well because he has been consistent over time. 

Apart from him, team captain Musa Muhammed will be key to our progress. Also, players like Musa Yahaya, Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidera Ezeh are likely to do very well at this World Cup.  So we are not talking about one player here but at least five who can show the rest of the world that they deserve recognition.”

Nigeria’s second match will be against debutant Sweden on Tuesday. The Scandinavians only made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA U-17 Championship before losing to Russia, but it was good enough to secure for them a ticket to the World Cup.

Iraq are the second debutants in the group, making it to the World Cup courtesy of a semi-final berth at the Asian U-17 championship last year.