Golden Eaglets head coach Nduka Ugbade has explained what makes his team unique from other country at this year’s U-17 AFCON in Algeria.
The Eaglets will kickoff their campaign against Zambia in Group B on Sunday, 30 April in Constantine.
Other teams in the same group with the Eaglets are Morocco and South Africa.
Nigeria is one of only five countries to have won the title two times in 2001 and 2007.
Ugbade, who captained the Eaglets to win the maiden U-17 World Cup in 1985 in China, believes the unique characteristics in his team will sail them through.
“We are a relentless team, a team that pursues every opponent till the end of the 90 minutes,” he was quoted on cafonline.com.
“We are unique in nature in the way we play.”
The 1994 AFCON winner however admitted that this year’s tournament will be tough.
“It is going to be very difficult, with all due respect to all the teams which have qualified. But, we are not coming here to participate. Everyone knows Nigeria is a footballing nation and we are coming here to compete.
“We are confident in our preparation and what we have done before the tournament, but we have to do everything humanly possible to win it because every team is tough and if you are not careful, you will find yourself out of the competition.”
The top four teams at the 2023 U-17 AFCON will qualify for the World Cup.
By Toju Sote
8 Comments
Where can one watch this Match
YouTube
Meanwhile,Somalia is a very good but inexperienced side otherwise should be owning Algeria.
I love their flair but lack of idea in the final third is their weakness
Pele played and won world cup at the age of 17 .
The fact that Ebube Okere (#17) and Mbatha (#4) from the championship winning team of WAFU Zone B somehow didn’t make dis team is mind-boggling to me. Those 2 were excellent in the midfield especially Ebube who was a standout in my view. This team should be a crack team if Ebube couldn’t make dis team. The team must be very good team, wishing Ughade and d eaglets good fortune. I really don’t care if they win the AFCON but qualifying for the FIFA Worldcup is more important. Winning the AFCON will just be icing on d cake. Good luck eaglets
They weren’t screened rather were dropped by the football authorities for not meeting target set for MRI.
Though they weren’t overage just that the NFF don’t want to take chances because the new CAF rules states that a team will be disqualified should 4 members of their playing personnel are above grade 5 the NFF set a target of grade 4 because of that we lost 5 regular midfielders who were on grade 5.
Heya!
I read somethong around those lines but wasn’t sure which players were dropped based on the clueless NFF. I also read CAF revised dia rules regarding not disqualifying the entire team if 4 players failed the MRI Test. Also why were they used during the WAFU Zone B competition only for them not to be suitable for the AFCON proper? Do they use a different criteria for both competitions, if so then dats ridiculous and used standardize the process. Tif i were Bosso i will promptly call those 2 as a matter of urgency as they are both better than Aminu and Adams. Talking about Bosso, is there a reason he didn’t invite dat Abayomi from Crystal Palace who he claimed he really like? Anyway good luck to Ugbade and d Eaglets.