18th October, 2013
Manu Garba, MFR, Chief Coach of the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria has stated that his wards would attack their opponents, Mexico when both teams clash Saturday at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup holding in the United Arab Emirates, UAE.
The three-time world champions and the defending champions will tango at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain City in their first match of the World Cup and Garba, who played in the first Nigerian team to qualify for U-17 World Cup finals when the country won the African Youth Championship, AYC in 1983, said he would adopt a pattern known as “Total Football” against the North Americans.
Garba told fifa.com that he would be drawing inspiration from Rinus Michels, the late coach of Ajax and Holland, who is credited with founding, or at least refining Total Football, going into Saturday Group F opener.
According to Garba, who was an Assistant Coach back in 2007 in Korea the last time Nigeria won the U-17 World Cup, “When we have the ball, we all attack. When we don’t, we all defend.”
He added: “I have ordered each of the players to take a chance; go forward, and be rest assured that another man will cover you. All my players have the freedom to go anywhere, and it’s a responsibility they understand. Think Barcelona, think Spain, think entertaining, think passion and possibility.”
When prodded to describe his football philosophy going into the cracker, he said “Total Football, I give my players a special freedom, a freedom to express themselves.”
On whether the players in his nest have football experience, he retorted: “They have no league experience. They are amateurs; we have spent two weeks in Dubai preparing for the tournament opener, they play for local teams, or at their secondary schools, but it is this youth that can make them very adaptable to new ideas.”
Despite dropping Theophilus Solomon, a young striker dubbed the ‘Nigerian Ronaldo’ from his squad, Garba insists that he envisages no problem as there are other capable players ready to fill the void created, “I don’t see any defence that can stop us,” Garba opined, citing an 11-0 win over Spanish club Espanyol’s youth academy team last month as a rather forceful example. “We know a World Cup is a different story, but, man, my attack is blistering. They can destroy any team any day.”
—Adebobola Alawode