Nigeria’s Flying Eagles begin their campaign for the elusive FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand in the early hours of tomorrow with a test duel against five-time champions, Brazil, at the 11,000-capacity Stadium Taranaki, in New Plymouth.
Nigeria reached the final of the tournament in 1989 and 2005 losing the trophy to Portugal and Argentina respectively but Coach Manu Garba has vowed that his current squad of Flying Eagles will make history by becoming the first Nigerian team to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup this time round.
The Nigerian team largely made up of the Golden Eaglets squad that won the last FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 won the last African Youth Championship in Senegal in March.
”It is either the Cup or nothing else for Nigeria,” declared Manu, who led the country to win a record fourth FIFA U-17 World Cup two years ago and in New Zealand with half of that championship-winning squad.
“There is a lot of pressure but we do not allow it to affect us because once we put yourself under pressure, you are most likely to make a lot of mistakes.
“For us, we do not know the word pressure. We do our best and just pray for mother luck.
“We have all it takes to go all the way and take the Cup back to Nigeria.”
The Flying Eagles trained at the smart Stadium Taranaki yesterday afternoon for an hour and will have their final training before the Brazil showdown early this morning.
Kick-off time is 1pm local time, which is 2am Nigerian time early tomorrow.
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