24th April, 2013
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets battle Tunisia for the final ticket of the ongoing CAF U-17 Championship at Grande Stade Marrakech, Morocco today.
The Eaglets come into this match as the top goal scoring side with 13 strikes, while The Carthage Eaglets have scored 8 times. In preparing for the semi-final match The Golden Eaglets worked on different strategies that included practicing penalty kicks.
CAF U-17 matches go straight into penalties without playing extra time and according to Nigeria coach, Manu Garba, “We have never excluded taking penalties from our training even before this preparation for Tunisia game. Almost all the players are good at taking penalties but we are going to work even more as we prepare for Wednesday’s match. That some of the world’s best players often choke and collapse under the weight of expectations during penalty shootout is a known fact hence the Nigerian lads are being tutored against choking on the big stage,” said Garba.
The Tunisian defence that has been breached four times so far in the competition will have the top two leading strikers in Success Isaac ( 6 goals) and Kelechi Iheanacho (4 goals) to contend with today. For their part The Carthage Eaglets have found goals in striker Ben Larbi Mohamed Firas with three so far and Haj Hasen Hazem who has found the net twice.
Chidiebere Nwakali, Eaglets’ midfielder, promised to be at his best against the North Africans.
“My prediction is that we are going to win and I’m confident God shall give us victory,” stated Nwakali who is a great admirer of Italian 2006 World Cup-winning midfielder, Andrea Pirlo.
“Our morale is very this for this match and we are ready to play against Tunisia.”