Drawn bye into the second round of the qualifiers, the Nigerian
Under-17 national team was originally scheduled to meet the overall
winner of the first round fixture between Congo DR and Burundi but the
latter according to the continental soccer governing body, CAF, has
withdrawn from the competition.
The 2015 CAN Under-17 slated for Niger has already been
bedevilled with spate of withdrawals including that of Kenya; Central
African Republic; Liberia, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau. Gambia was
disqualified following their suspension from all CAF competitions.
Nigeria in the meantime, would travel to Kinshasa on the weekend
of July 18-20 while the return fixture a fortnight later would be held
on the weekend of August 12.
Speaking on the development, Golden Eaglets' Head coach, Emmanuel
Amuneke (MON), said his boys would be ready irrespective of the
opposition:"We don't have the luxury of picking the team we want to play
as such; we would be ready to play the Congolese."
It would be recalled that the Golden Eaglets in 2013 defeated the
Congo Brazzaville 7-0 at the CAN Under-17 in Morocco but Amuneke
reckoned that the fixture against Congo-Kinshasa offers a different
challenge.
" Of course, Congo-Kinshasa would be different from
Congo-Brazzaville that we met in Morocco but we know that the Congolese
in whatever shape are a strong side but we would be ready," Amuneke
added.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eaglets according to Amuneke remain focused
about the challenges ahead, revealing that series of upcoming friendly
matches would be used to fine-tune the team's rough edges.
No comments:
Post a Comment