Golden Eaglets players celebrating
Former
Nigeria defender, Kingsley Obiekwu, is delighted with the performance
of the Golden Eaglets at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab
Emirates.
However, Obiekwu called for a programme that will help improve the players to enable them to graduate to the Super Eagles.
The three-time champions of the
competition play Uruguay in a quarterfinal clash on Saturday and the
Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games gold medallist is impressed with the Nigerian
youngsters.
Obiekwu said, “This is Nigeria’s
youngest ever U-17 national team. The coach (Manu Garba) has done well
to pick the right players. Of course am impressed with the team;
they’ve given a good account of themselves. In a competition like this,
the most important matches are the first two. Even in the game they
drew, they still dominated, so the coaching crew are doing a very good
job.
“What we need is continuity. It will be
good for the country if we keep these boys together for the U-20 team.
But after the tournament, the team will be scattered; you won’t even
know where some of the boys are.
“We can have a programme through which
we monitor these boys even after the tournament, so that they can
progress to the Flying Eagles, the U-23 team and the Super Eagles.
It will help us build a solid foundation for our future teams.”
The former Enugu Rangers centre-back, however, predicted a tough tie against Uruguay.
The ex-Eagles player said, “It’s going
to be a very tough game. Having watched them play, Uruguay are one of
the toughest teams in the competition. They have given us problems in
the past. It’s not going to be an easy match but I tip Nigeria for
victory.”
On the calls for the Eaglets to play from the flanks, Obiekwu insisted Manu should have the final say.
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