By Izuchukwu Okosi:
Flying Eagles striker Taiwo Awoniyi believes the Stephen Keshi’s team have the mental fortitude to defeat Argentina in Wednesday’s Group F game in Porto Alegre.
The Eagles defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 early Sunday morning to enhance their chances of qualifying for the Round of 16 stages of the World Cup.
Awoniyi who is already looking forward to being part of the senior national team when hopefully Nigeria qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia tells Completesportsnigeria.com that the quality in the Nigerian team can see the African champions through the Group F.
“The game against Argentina will not be an easy one, but the Super Eagles have shown with the win over Bosnia that they’re gradually getting into their stride,” states the former Nigeria U17 striker.
“Personally, I want them to top the group and qualify for the Round of 16. They have great players there. They should make us proud in Brazil,” the youngster says enthusiastically.
Nigeria need to get at least a point to make their qualification for the Round of 16 a certainty.
However, an identical number of points, goals scored and conceded in the case of Nigeria and Iran would see the FIFA Organising Committee drawing a lot to determine who advances to the Knock Out stages.
Nigeria had been in a similar circumstance, when in 2003, the Nigerian U-17 national team were eliminated from that year’s U-17 World Cup after finishing their group games with the same statistics as Costa Rica, who went on to qualify for the quarter-finals.
That team coached by Austin Eguavoen had a certain John Mikel Obi, alongside others like Chinedu Obasi, Ezekiel Bala and Emmanuel Sarki who showed their promise at the world stage.
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