The draw for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup will take place on Friday, February 24 in the city of Gdynia, Poland with Nigeria’s Flying Eagles among the 24 qualified teams that will know their group opponents, Completesports.com reports.
The biennial competition will be staged in six Polish cities; in Lodz, Bielsko-Biala, Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Lublin and Tychy from 23 May to 15 June 2019.
The Flying Eagles are one of the four African countries that will compete for honours at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The other three are, newly crowned continental champions, Mali, Senegal and South Africa.
Paul Aigbogun’s men took fourth position at the just concluded U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Niger after losing to Mali in the semi-final and also lost in the third-place play off to the Amajita of South Africa.
The Flying Eagles who have seven U-20 AFCON titles failed to qualify for the 2017 edition of the competition, losing to minnows Sudan in the qualifiers.
Aigbogun and his charges will look to become the second African country to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup after Ghana who won it in 2009.
Also Read: CAF Names Ikouwem, Uzornwafor In 2019 U-20 AFCON Best XI
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles has however featured twice in the final losing 2-0 to Portugal in 1989 and 2-1 to a Lionel Messi inspired Argentina in 2005.
Asia will be represented at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup by Japan, Korea Republic, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the tournament, while CONCACAF have four representatives; Honduras, Mexico, Panama and USA.
France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Ukraine and hosts Poland will fly Europe’s flag in the tournament, while Oceania have New Zealand and Tahiti as their torch bearers.
Conmebol will be represented by Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador.
The FIFA U-20 World Cup has long been a breeding ground for some of world football’s most gifted players, with the likes of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir Boban, Adriano and Paul Pogba having blossomed at the tournament.
The likes Mutiu Adepoju, Taye Taiwo John Mikel Obi are some of the Nigerian players who shone in the competition in the past with tjw Flying Eagles, and later had a gloriorepresented t the senior level.
By Adeboye Amosu
12 Comments
Some big names are missing this time around.
England (current under-20 champions), Germany (one time Under-20 winners), Ghana (one time Under-20 winners), Brazil (5 times Under-20 winners) and Serbia (2 times champions) are all going to be conspicuous in their absences in the draw on Friday as they failed to qualify.
With these heavyweights missing, I will be expecting no lower than a quarter-final stage achievement from Aigbogun and his boys in Poland come June.
They have done the hard part by qualifying for the tournament after going through a gruelling Afcon Under-20 campaign in which their uninspiring brand of football ensured they came back home empty handed with nothing but world cup qualification to show for their troubles .
Now, his squad needs a radical overhaul to address the failings that made them create plenty of chances only to take advantage of a tiny proportion of these in Niger; much to the frustration of a section of fans who believe that a younger, more vibrant selection of players were available to the coach who would have guaranteed a better outing and outcome.
I’m seeing the “famous” Tahiti, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Norway among the qualifiers. With this lineup of countries from the other continents playing the Under 20 World Cup in Poland, this would have been the perfect chance for Nigeria to finally win this tournament. The only strong contender here is Argentina; and maybe France and Italy. No Germany? No Brazil? No England? Or even Ghana?
Only if Nigeria can present a real quality team who look the age (maybe 25 real age and under)! This tournament would have been ours for the taking. But if things remain as they are, I’ll be tipping Mali, Senegal, France or Argentina to win it!
Senegal France Ecuador. Guys please forget Nigeria even the U20 Afcon Aigbogun by the sound of his tune knew he was never gonna win!
It’s no wonder African footballing power house Nations like Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon are falling behind the likes of Senegal and South Africa.
One thing all three have in common is that Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana suspended their local football leagues for much of last year. Hence no football youth development for the whole of 2018.
In fact no player development at any level in those countries. Other countries will not stand still and wait for us
@kel you don’t mind 25 year old players in our U-20 team yet you’re one of those who is against age cheating. The U-20 and indeed every age grade competitions are always a level playing field. There’s a reason Argentina hasn’t won it again since 2007. Yet they remain the most successful team in the tournament history. Nigeria failed to qualify for the last U17 WorldCup despite winning it back to back in 2013 and 2015. You need to see the look of the Ecuador team that won the South American edition. I’m sure many people will have doubts about their age due to their physical features
We have a solid defense going to Poland and we’re guaranteed to play on fantastic pool table surfaces. Once we fix our goal conversion ratio based on the numerous chances we created I think the FlyingEagles will be fine. Starting from the Suwon tournament other players within the age limit will most likely be tested and I’m sure more foreign pros can also join the team going to the WorldCup.
@Ay, hehehe. I was talking football age nah. You know nah, football age is +5 or so of a player’s real age — even in Europe. I bet no one will raise an eyebrow if most of these players (Ghana was worse) were 25 years old or less.
Having said that, there were some flashes of brilliance in the Nigerian defence line, which the CAF 11 goes to confirm as @deo pointed out. But just as you highlighted too, all of these bright sparks were underwhelmed by an incredibly blunt attack.
Like football analysts would say, goals win matches and it’s the statistics that counts in the end. This team can’t score – both as a result of inadequate talent upfront and poor tactics by the coach. So, yes, the midfield and attack at least need to be rejigged to include more quality and attack-minded players.
Kel, what do you mean by “even in Europe”. I live in Europe and i can CATEGORICALLY GUARANTE that their is ZERO age cheating here. Every human being here has biodata registered either from the time you are born or once you emmigrate. And if attempted would be exposed immediately. If you think everyone does it you are deceiving yourself. You can understand why Europe is the top football continent in the world.
@Adisboy, you cannot guarantee the ages. One example that keeps coming back.
Victor Moses played for England Under 16, under 17, under 19 and under 21. But there are whispers about his age.
There are many children who arrive Europe without proof of age or who they are. Some of them end up in the countries age group teams.
Mo Farah arrived England as a refugee is another example. There are no 100% guarantees.
I don’t want to be part of that notion thinking this year’s under 20 world cup will be easy because of the absence of notable or big names among the 24 countries listed for the biennial championship.
However,the names conspicuously missing were stopped by some of the teams taking part in Poland this year so for that we have some countries taking part with a much improved team than expected so we should be on our guard so as not to be caught napping.
Having said that,I believe we do not need a wholesale or radical changes to our team.Bringing in between five to seven players at most to shore up grey areas is what the team need.I know most people won’t agree with me but going through our games in Niger recently I observed we did so well but in football you have to win matches by scoring goals dominant football isn’t just enough.
In essence,what Aigbogun needs to do is bring in few attacking players who can score goals possibly two attacking midfielders in my opinion five new attacking players to improve the teams attacking prowess.
The world cup is three months away building chemistry takes a while the defence,goalkeeper’s and central midfielders are good they exhibited high level of professionalism in Niger but was let down by a toothless attack.So we must ensure we keep the bulk of the team and make minimal changes where necessary and we shall have a team good enough to represent us with excellence.
Meanwhile,we shouldn’t berate the African qualifier.It was so tough and I believe Africa will present one of the strongest representatives in Poland.
Nigeria did well and our team conceded just one goal in open play all through the tournament so we shouldn’t discard a strong team like that we were beaten by penalties which has some luck in it.
I hope the coaches have the wisdom to bring positive changes to the team I believe they are equal to the task this are three seasoned and successful coaches in the NPFL.
I wish the flying eagles and it’s crew well in Poland.
God bless Nigeria.
Clearly some departments need more attention than others.
It is no mistake that members of the team’s defence made it to the CAF XI of the tournament – the defence is fine.
However the offensive midfield and attack departments need urgent attention (in my humble opinion) and a radical overhaul in personnel and/or orientation for them to be able to support, implement and drive the Aigbogun’s strategy to deliver the goals that win matches.
Here is A 19 year old goalkeeper who is staking a claim on Nigeria.
Maduka Okoye plays for Fortuna Dusseldorf II. My advise is for him to target the flying Eagles world cup squad, then the Olympic squad before the AFCON in 2021.
But before that, hold onto the starting Jersey for his club
https://twitter.com/omaakatugba/status/1097758976333279232?s=19
Guys, bribery, godfatherism and tribalism will not allow them to pick the best legs, so as usual they would be kicked out in second round or quarter final.But if they can select players based on merit Nigeria can win the cup.