Five-time champions Nigeria will start as favourites when they confront Netherlands in Tuesday’s (today) Round of 16 clash at the FIFA U17 World Cup finals in Brazil.
The Golden Eaglets top Group B after winning two matches (defeated Hungary 4-2 and Ecuador 3-2) and losing one (1-2 to Australia).
Victories over Hungary and Ecuador were obtained at the Estadio Olimpico while the loss to Australia was in Brasilia. Now, the Nigerian youngsters are back at the familiar surroundings of Estadio Olimpico and will go all out for victory against the Dutch on Tuesday night.
Nigeria forward Ibrahim Sa’id is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in Brazil, and team captain Samson Tijani has also weighed in with two goals – both against Hungary in a tough-as-nails opener.
Olakunle Olusegun, Akinkunmi Amoo, and Wisdom Ubani are yet to be among the goals and look forward to the game against the Dutch to make their mark.
Head Coach Manu Garba told the world media in Brazil that the will to win is part of Nigeria’s DNA, and the Class of 2019 is no exception.
However, his Eaglets must overcome the disappointment of the unexpected loss to Australia in their final group game, and seize the encounter with the Dutch by the scruff rather than wait for any comeback performance.
“We will look to have the initiative from the beginning against the Netherlands. This is the knockout stage and falling behind at any stage could be tricky,” admitted captain Tijani.
Tuesday’s clash will start at 8pm Brazil time (midnight in Nigeria).
6 Comments
Everything is turning around now. We lost against the Australian when we put on many people favourite jersey, but won our first two matches on dark green jerseys that majority tagged as bad luck. Now guys, which jersey should we put on tonight against the orange?
A . Fashion jersey
B. Dark green
I vote dark green. It has brought us good omen thus far in this tournament.
We are the home team and we will be lifting on the white shirt.
No matter the jersey they wear, we are winning this match, what excite me most is we are playing on a familiar ground. which ever jersey they are dawning is cool by me.
Should the Golden Eaglets run into Argentina in the later stages, you can be absolutely sure of unwavering support from the Brazilian spectators. They and their eternal rivals Argentina hate each other with a passion. In such a game, the GE will be playing like they were on home ground. Good luck lads!
I knew Hansen was gonna destroy us…..Manu Garba didn’t watch their match against U.S.A……if he did he would have realized that Hansen was a serious danger…..