21st May, 2015
With about a week to the New Zealand 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup all seems not to be well with the Nigerian team taking part in the tournament.
Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has admitted the defence remains his major worry going into the competition popularly called World Youth Championship, WYC, while at the same time said his attack will be the most lethal in New Zealand.
“We still need to work on our defence. This is where we need to work on before the World Cup kicks off,” Manu admitted.
“The mental speed of the players has to be better – they do recover in good time, but they often fail to do the marking when it matters most, to close up on the opposition.
“But I believe before the World Cup, the defence will be a lot tighter because we will surely work on those areas. This is the major weakness of this team.”
However, the Flying Eagles have an embarrassment of talent to choose from in attack with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi, Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho on top form and scoring goals for Manu to say his strike force will be the deadliest at the World Cup
“The midfield is the main strength of this team, but with the inclusion of Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho and Moses Simon, the attack will be very, very deadly. It will be difficult to get an attack that will be as deadly as that of Nigeria,” he warned.
Despite the presence of Argentina, Brazil and some top European teams, the Flying Eagles will be the team to beat when the FIFA U20 World Cup kicks off according to Coach Fatai Amoo.
Nigeria’s U-23 Olympic team assistant Coach fears the fine form of the team could spurn some air of complacency in the camp.
Amoo says the team are no underdogs going into the competition and this may trigger the pressure button.
“We all know they are in good shape but I hope they don’t get over confident or allow complacency creep into the camp.
“The Flying Eagles are the team to beat so there’s going to be a lot of pressure; they are not going in as underdogs, which I hope they’ll be able to absorb the heat and pressure so that they can go out there and play their game,” he told Brila FM.