22nd October, 2013
Former Secretary-General of Nigeria Football Association, NFA and erstwhile coach of the Golden Eaglets, Monday Odigie have cautioned the current crop of the Golden Eaglets not to underrate any team if they must excel at the on-going FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the Eaglets are in Group F with Mexico, Sweden and Iraq in the tournament taking place in the United Arab Emirate, UAE.
Amun told NAN in an interview in Abuja on Monday that the Eaglets must raise their game against Sweden to have any chance of progressing to the next stage.
“They won their first game; we want the next game to be better than the first game.
“Though they are playing a team that is tough too, we should have an edge over them no matter how it comes.
“If we win against Sweden, it means we have a better chance of qualifying from the group, but if we draw, it will be a problem,’’ he said.
Amun, a onetime Golden Eaglets’ coach, noted that the Eaglets would do better if they survived the group stage.
“The issue is that the team was so marvellous in the qualifying series though it finished as runner-up in the African championship.
“Now that they are in the world cup, I expect that they should qualify from the group stage before we talk about the next levels.
“Knockout stages will be easily predicted or preempted when we see their third game in the group stage,’’ he said.
The Nigerian team is billed to play Sweden in the second group game of the championship in the city of Al-Ain today. The Eaglets had previously won the World championship in 1985, 1993 and 2007; the team also won the African U-17 Championship in 2001 and 2007, and was runner-up in 1995.