The Moment (London)
Paul Erewuba And Ajibade Olusesan
30 July 2011
THE junior national team, the Flying Eagles, will on Sunday (today) begin their campaign for honours at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Colombia, when they face Guatemala in one of Group D’s opening games. Croatia will take on Saudi Arabia in the other encounter.
Nigeria’s game against Colombia comes after weeks of build-up activities that saw the Flying Eagles playing series of friendly games.
The Coach John Obuh-led team did not exhibit traits of a championship contending side in the build-up to the tournament in Colombia, but the coach is confident that his wards can shock the world at the event.
Obuh declared his team will make history by becoming the second African team, after defending champions Ghana, to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Ghana became the first African team to win the tournament two years ago in Egypt and Obuh said he believes his team could follow in the footsteps of the Black Satellites in Colombia.
“Our target is to make history for the country and ourselves. We have ambitions. We have played two finals of this competition, and are yet to win it and so making history will now be to win it.
“I wouldn’t say this is a tough or easy group. These days, I don’t put a lot of importance on what group I find myself. This was after the Under-17 World Cup, where we were supposed to be in the ‘Group of Death.’ Also at the AYC, it was another so-called ‘Group of Death’ that had Ghana and Cameroon.
“The best approach therefore is to face any team you come across in any competition.
“We still need to be focused on our group for the World Cup, put in all we have got so as to go beyond this stage of the competition,” said Obuh.
When both Nigeria and Guatemala met two years ago at an invitational tournament prior to the 2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt, the match ended 3-1 in favour of the Guatemalans.
But Obuh says this will be a different kettle of fish as his wards are ready to fly pass the Guatemalans in today’s crucial encounter.
Guatemala would play their first match in the history of the competition, and would relish their chances in this historic debut.
Obuh’s squad to Colombia is dominated by members of the Golden Eaglets team he guided to the final of the 2009 Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
Skipper Ramon Azeez leads the list of graduands from the U-17 side. Others include Danjuma Paul, Kenneth Omeruo, Abduljelili Ajagun, Olanrenwaju Kayode, Sani Emmanuel, Omo Ojabu and Egbedi Edafe.
The list that also includes Super Eagles winger Ahmed Musa and full backs Terna Suswan and Emmanuel Anyanwu, who have also represented the Olympic team.
Speaking ahead of today’s match, NFF President, Aminu Maigari told The Moment before he jetted out of the country on Friday that they were not expecting anything short of victory in the competition, adding that anything otherwise the coach should consider the campaign a failure.
“The expectation is to win the cup, we are going to football war. Nobody is going to war and expect to be defeated. We have supported this team so much; we organised several international tune-up matches for them.
“The player and the coaches don’t have any excuse than to win this trophy, the expectation is so high and they know. Mr. President and of course, the entire Nigerians are behind them, so anything short of winning the trophy we would consider it a failure,” Maigari said.
Nigeria’s other Group D games against Croatia and Saudi Arabia come up on August 3 and 6 respectively.
AllAfrica – All the Time