12th September, 2014
Nigeria’s Under-17 team, Golden Eaglets, would be going out for an outright victory when they confront their Gabonese counterparts in the first leg, final round 2015 African U-17 Championship on Saturday at the Stade Augustin Monedan de Sibang in Libreville, Niger with the kick off fixed for 3:30pm local time-same Nigerian time.
According to the 1994 African Footballer of the Year award winner, Coach Emmanuel Amuneke, “we have come this far on this assignment and we are going to press for a win in Gabon on Saturday. The boys have really worked hard in the past few days and they are quite aware about the importance of this match; and we want to qualify for the championship in Niger and a win this weekend would really help us.”
A squad of 18 players and officials including Coach Siji Lagunju (chief technical officer at the Nigeria Football Federation) rode on bus in the early hours of Friday to neighbouring Cotonou to connect a flight to Libreville since there are no direct connections between Nigeria and Gabon due to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brouhaha.
Accompanying officials informed on getting to Cotonou that the players are in good spirit despite the tight travelling arrangement occasioned by late issuance of visa by the Gabonese Embassy in Abuja following an intervention by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday and are ready for the expected tough assignment in Libreville
Coach Amuneke would expectedly field his battle-hardened lads with the pair of Victor Osimhen and Kehinde Ayinde to lead the attack in a 4-4-2 formation. Skipper Kelechi Nwakali would roam in the midfield along with Suleiman Abdullahi, Ernest Agenor and Promise Orji while
the quartet of Usman Abass, Lukman Halilu, Deji Bamidele and Anas Muhammed would feature in the defensive rear. Petit goalkeeper, Ebuka Nwokoecha might be in the stick ahead of Amos Benjamin as the duo eye their first start since Udoh Akpan who was on the duty in both legs
against Congo Democratic Republic in previous round is not available.
“We have selected 18 good players for this match and we are confident they would deliver the goods,” affirmed Amuneke. “By the grace of God, we shall come victorious in Gabon.”
The second leg is due in a fortnight with the overall winner earning a ticket to the eight-team tournament to be held from 15 February to 1 March 2015 in Niger-with the semi-finalists qualifying to represent the continent at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.