Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have been drawn in Group D to face Ukraine, the United States of America and Qatar in the preliminary phase of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Poland, reports Completesports.com.
The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup will kick off from May 23 to June 15.
The draw held at the Gdynia Sports Arena in Gdynia has pitted host nation Poland against Colombia, Tahiti and Senegal in Group A while African champions Mali will take on France, Panama and Saudi Arabia in Group E.
Group B has Mexico, Italy, Japan and Ecuador, and Honduras,.
New Zealand, Uruguay and Norway will make up Group C, while Group F is comprised of another African flag-bearer South Africa, along with Argentina, Portugal, and Korea Republic.
Nigeria finished as runners–up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1989 (lost to Portugal in the final in Saudi Arabia) and in 2005 (lost to Argentina in The Netherlands), and won the bronze medals in the old Soviet Union in 1985 (when the Flying Eagles defeated the host nation on penalties in the third-place match).
The Flying Eagles defeated USA in the semi-finals of the 1989 finals in Saudi Arabia when two goals by Mutiu Adepoju settled the encounter and took Nigeria to a first-ever final.
Another of Nigeria’s Group D opponents, Qatar, shocked the world in 1981, when the country reached the final of the competition in Australia, only to lose to then West Germany.
GROUP A: Poland, Colombia, Tahiti, Senegal
GROUP B: Mexico, Italy, Japan, Ecuador
GROUP C: Honduras, New Zealand, Uruguay, Norway
GROUP D: Qatar, Nigeria, Ukraine, USA
GROUP E: Panama, Mali, France, Saudi Arabia
GROUP F: Portugal, Korea Republic, Argentina, South Africa.
By Johnny Edward
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COMMENTS
It’s a favourable draw for us. The coach should search for young talents that can grow to be Eagles materials and not this old tired legs we saw at just concluded u20 AFCON.
A very favorable draw for the FlyingEagles although all the teams in the group should not be taken for granted. We just need to improve our conversion ratio. I have tremendous confidence in our defense we just need more quality in the midfield and attacking area. Once that can be addressed I believe the FlyingEagles will be just fine in Poland
Our defense know how to recover quickly
But more work needs to be done in the midfield and attack
A lot of work needs to be done seriously should we desire to eo well in this competition. The world cup .
Well said guys, a really good draw for us, but we should not underestimate any team especially the USA they have some real young exciting players.The coach and is management staff should based the selections on merit, do away with bribe taking and tribalism.if approach this tournament with seriousness and right players we can win it all.
_Flying Eagles’ tricky opponents_
Fans will be hoping for a new look Flying Eagles team to file out against Qatar on 24 May before navigating tricky ties against USA on 27 May and then Ukraine 3 days after.
One thing Aigbohun’s boys have in common with 2 of the 3 teams in the group – Qatar and Ukraine – is that they all go to Poland as semi-finalists in their continental under-19 tournaments with USA being the odd one out having emerged the winners in their own neck of the woods.
So, from that angle, one can rate most the teams in Nigeria’s groups as their equals with more than 50-50 chances of qualification for the knock-out stages but, will it be that easy?
Nig vs. Qatar: For all the criticisms that came the way of Aigbohun and his young Eagles in Niger, one department that distinguished itself was the defence. Well, that defence will have to maintain, even enhance, that standard to clip the wings Qatar’s superstar (young) striker Abdulrasheed Umar.
The 19 year old Belgium-based sharpshooter scored seven goals in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship, including a brace in the quarter-finals clash against Thailand, as he capped up a fantastic tournament to be named the highest goal scorer – Flying Eagles beware.
Nig vs. USA: United States defeated tournament favourites Mexico to lift the CONCACAF Under-19 championship as their striker Alex Mendes won the best player of the tournament while their goalkeeper Brady Scott won the best goalkeeper award.
The boys from the U – S – of – A are not expected to go the Poland to just make up the numbers so I expect Aigbohun and his boys to have their work cut out in this one!
Nig vs. Ukraine: Ukraine qualified for this world cup by topping a qualification group that included current Under-20 champions England (who ultimately failed to qualify for this tournament) and powerhouse France.
In young master Buletsa, Ukraine have a striker who can hurt any team in counter-attacking moves as France found out in the European U-19 championship last year. I am not expecting this to be a stroll in the park for Aigbohun’s boys.
VERDICT:
If coach Aigbohun can present players who will help him perfect his long-balls and route-one philosophy (to unsettle defence and produce goals), then his boys should go far in what is expected to a fascinating tournament in Poland.
I don’t have any singular confidence on this coach Aigbogun to lead a credible team that will get out from the group. As a citizen of both Countries, any country who takes USA for granted will bite their fingers followed by saying ” had we know”
Coach Aigbogun tends to prefer over aged players and tribal based choice as a policy in choosing his team.
Aigbogun should watch the Ukraine and USA seriously if he doesn’t want to go back to Abuja, with regrets, after the group matches.
“Coach Aigbogun tends to prefer over aged players and tribal based choice as a policy…”
How many Edo players are in the team?
Coach Aigbogun didn’t look, he would have find. Some Bendel Insurance boys are very hot, if he was interested. The reason he might have being appointed as the coach, was that Edo folks are known for producing iconic and well seasoned coaches through out the Nation long football history. If the coach is reading this piece, you have time now to do your proper homework if you don’t want to turn the Polish u’20 summer game into a picnic misadventure.
Qatar has gone through one million, yes 1,000,000 youth players and developed players for several countries including our own Onyekuru and Francis Uzoho in their bid to prepare for the world cup 2022 that they are hosting.
The Aspire Academy in Qatar has cherry picked the best young prospects and developed and trained them in their facility at home as well as in a base in Senegal. They have also started from scratch a team in Belgium and they are now in the premier league Eupen fc in order to give their best players playing experience in a league (That was Onyekuru’s first club).
The senior National team already won the Asian cup this year and that was one step towards a decent showing, this under 20 is another step. We should not under estimate them
My take. I don,t have confidence in coach Aigbogun. He will not select the right players. And his tactics are clumsy.He is just not the right coach we need for our U 20. I don,t know the criteria the NFF used in appointing him.
The dropping of Flying Eagles top scorer Wasiu Alalade came back to bite the coach as the lack of bite upfront was glaring.
Will he go back to the player he rejected or pros across the world?
u are back in your position @ deo, God continue to bless you for that (amen) this is the result when you fail to respect one another opinion. Deo usually disagree with other opinion with fact and reason to confuse such person with respect and carefully not to peace such person up. Chima, you are one of the big guys in the house. please reconsider ur decision n continue with the family, and don’t forget, Drey love you so much reason he always disagree and off cause, I know you do also. the House is boring when you are not around but then please, try not to know your value. Drey, try to respect each and every one opinion, not to annoy the elders anymore pls……God bless the house, bless Nigeria. 1 love.
Thanks sir…! All points Noted…!
24 teams are taking part in this biennial championship so it makes qualification easy because four best losers are guaranteed a place in the first knockout stages.
Having said that,Nigeria is expected to qualify from that group and go even further in the competition.
However,I am astonished to read members slagging off Aigbogun team but in my view he has got a solid squad who dominated the eventual winners in the round of playoffs witnessed in Niger.Aside Mali they dominated all their opponents with over 60% possession which is huge and conceded the least among participants so in that case credit should be given to this gaffer who is a rookie at internationals.Not saying he hasn’t got his flaws but those flaws will give him the experience required to navigate this team to better things in Poland.
Meanwhile,according to Aigbogun the absence of his two best forwards affected the rythm of the team and how they played in Niger.Alalade (administrative) Victor Boniface (crocked) hopefully this two players will reunite with the team and a few others like the Everton under 18 prospect who is catching the eyes.
End of the day I could see a light at the end of the tunnel,this team will come good.I saw a solid team in Niger and the one to Poland will be even stronger.
All the best flying eagles.
God bless Nigeria!
By all standards, the Flying Eagle’s group is by far the most favourable. But they need good strikers. They have to look for good finishers before the tournament kicks off.