Golden Eaglets of Nigeria goes to 2015 African U16
Championship with an intimidating record. They are the current World Champions
and runners up in the previous edition of the championship. Eaglets have won
FIFA U16 World cup 4 times and the African U16 championship 8 times; something
no country in the world have achieve at this level.
The African U16 Championship that will be held in
Niamey Niger from February 15 to March 1, rank the Nigerian team as the clear
favorite. Not just on their previous record, the current Eaglets are yet to
lose after 26 domestic friendly matches and recently defeated Nigeria national
league side, Sokoto united 2-0 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna in January
17.
Emmanuel Amunike tutored Eaglets team is now a
delight to watch. The team can easily out play any opponent with their ball
possession and tip-tap skills that can only be comparable to FC Barcelona’s
style of play. The overwhelming display of bold skills and cohesion by these
youngsters is something so thrilling to watch.
One thing so unique about this set of Eaglets is the
way they easily win over the crowd. For instance, in their match against Sokoto
united, the whole of Ahmadu Bello went agog with the display of the Eaglets.
After the game, fans came around and sprayed money on several of the boys and
took photo shots with them. It hasn’t been different in Sokoto, where the team
is currently acclimatizing for the upcoming championship in Niger.
Today, Eaglets will engage Fasbir football Academy
at the Giginya Memorial Stadium Sokoto, in their final build up game, before
they travel to Niamey on Friday February 13. Be sure the whole stadium will be
packed out for this friendly.
Amunike said that it is imperative to play a match
here partly as a token of appreciation for the hospitality fans has shown to
the team since their arrival in Sokoto.
“Apart from using the match as an opportunity to see
the readiness of our players, we want to also appreciate the people of Sokoto
for their support to us since we arrived here.”
When asked to compare his squad with that of the
previous eaglets, now in flying Eagles. Amunike said, “No two teams are the
same. The previous team won the world cup and you can’t beat that. The unique
thing about them is their ruthlessness towards scoring goals. We have seen all that
a landmark.now lets wait and see how the current boys turn out.”
