CAF U-17 Tourney: Eaglets Battle Ivory Coast

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets battle Ivory Coast today in their second group match of the CAF U-17 Championship in Morocco as the team set sight on securing a ticket to play in the U-17 World Cup.

Mathematically, Nigeria would be through to the World Cup with a win against the Junior Elephants irrespective of the outcome of their last game against Congo on 20 April since they can either come first or second in the final analysis  —all the semi-finalists automatically qualify for the World Cup.

Speaking ahead of the game, Coach Manu Garba (MFR) said the objective of the team remains the same: “We are happy that we won our first game against Ghana but winning the second game against Ivory Coast is very important because it would take us to the World Cup.

“I saw a bit of their match against Congo and the Ivorians are not a bad side though they are physical but we know how to handle such a team.”

Garba said he has high hopes about his wards delivering the goods having prepared well, adding that they are battle-hardened already.

Meanwhile, Eaglets’ coaches have given Ifeanyi Matthew the licence to thrill against the Junior Elephants. On a good day, Matthew is as good as his idol, two-time African Footballer of the Year and Ivorian Yaya Toure in terms of ball distribution as well as the ability to score. In fact, he’s reckoned to have scored arguably Golden Eaglets’ best goal so far (in the friendly against Botswana in Calabar) when he cracked a volley that could be compared with that Zinedine Zidane’s famous match-winning goal in Real Madrid’s 2–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final.

“You are the head of the diamond and player maker of this team,”assistant coach Nduka Ugbade told the midfielder during briefing at Sidi Youssef Ben Ali Stadium. “Go and enjoy yourself against the Ivoirians because you are the don of this team.”