Bazuaye warns Eaglets over tricky Sweden

Golden Eaglets players celebrating

Former Super Eagles winger Baldwin Bazuaye  has warned the Golden Eaglets  they must show top form from the blast of the referee’s whistle in Tuesday’s UAE 2013 FIFA Uner-17 World Cup Group F clash with Sweden at   the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain  — or suffer a shock result.

Three-time champions Nigeria got their World Cup campaign off to a positive start with a 6-1 hammering of defending champions Mexico in their first group on Saturday.

A brace by Gustav Engvall helped debutants Sweden beat Iraq 4-1 in  the other group  clash of the day.

The winning team in today’s encounter automatically  qualify for  the Round of 16, and China ’85 FIFA Under-17 World Cup winner Bazuaye is backing Nigeria to beat Sweden.

But he warned the Eaglets not to underestimate the Europeans “because they are very good and tricky”.

“We’ve started the tournament well and I’m very happy with our winning performance,” the Algiers ’90 Africa Cup of Nations silver medallist  told our correspondent on the telephone on Monday.

“But we mustn’t relax thinking that we’ll overrun Sweden because we beat the defending champions in our first match.

“The Eaglets were brilliant in the game against Mexico and they  must show the same character and determination against Sweden.

“The Swede team are a tactical side and they have players full of tricks. We must be very careful in the game not to play into their hands.

“They must have got the tapes of our game against Mexico and our matches before the tournament.

“They must have noted one or two things that could help them pick up victory but we should attack from the blast of the referee’s whistle to disorganise them. We must respect  them and capitalise on their weaknesses for victory. We’ll beat them.”

The Bendel Insurance coach insists it is too soon to start talking about Nigeria  winning the title. The Eaglets won in 1985, 1993 and 2007. Brazil are the other team in the championship that have the same record.

 It’s too early to talk about winning the tournament because we have only played one match,” the 45-year-old said.

“We must qualify for the next round and progress to the quarterfinals or semifinals before talking about winning the title for the fourth time.

“We must be tactically disciplined and focused in every game to achieve result.”

Meanwhile, Sweden captain Elias Andersson says the side are  focused  on qualifying from the group.

“We’re not getting carried away with our start because Iraq were a very good team, so there’s still a lot of work that we need to do to get better and get out of the group,” the midfielder told FIFA.com.

“We’ll just keep trying to get better with every game and keep enjoying ourselves.”