Time to redeem the battered image

All is set for the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria to storm the U-17 African Youth Championship in Morocco. Can they redeem their battered image and that of the Flying Eagles who failed to live up to expectation at the last AYC in Algeria?

 

Golden Eaglets in celebration mood

Beginning from April 13, the Nigerian U-17 team, otherwise known as the Golden Eaglets will begin battle for the African Youth Championship, AYC trophy and also fight to get a ticket for a place in World Cup in United Arab Emirates, UAE in October.

As usual, expectations are high amongst soccer fans across the country considering the exploits of the boys in the qualifying stage where they walloped every team that came their way. The lads had an impressive campaign which saw them let in just a goal and scoring 21 times. The team also had one of the best preparations; they just returned from a tour of Qatar before heading to Morocco for the AYC.

Golden Eaglets will be playing in Group B alongside West African rivals, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Congo while the host, Morocco will do battle in Group A with Gabon, Tunisia and Botswana.

The Confederation of African Football, CAF biannual tournament takes place between April 13 and April 27, 2013, where the semi finalists will represent Africa at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE between October 17 and November 8, 2013.

Nigeria qualified for the 2013 U-17 championship after a double over Mali, beating them 2-0 in Bamako to qualify for the 2013 Africa U-17 Championship and 4-0 on aggregate.

The Golden Eaglets, three-time winners of the global championships are making a return at the continental fiesta after failing to qualify for the last two editions in Algeria 2009 and Rwanda 2011. They last won the AYC in 2007.

Their main rival in their group, Ghana’s Starlets book their place at the African U-17 Championship after beating South Africa 2-1 in their second leg encounter of the final round qualifier in Sekondi, Ghana. The Starlets completed a double over the Amajimbos of South Africa and book their place 5-3 on aggregate.

Just like the Golden Eaglets, the Ghanaians are also returning to the scene since 2007 after failing to qualify for the 2009 in Algeria and Rwanda 2011 editions respectively.

Cote d’Ivoire on the other hand, sealed their 2013 African U-17 Championship berth with a 2-1 victory over their Senegalese counterparts in Abidjan.

Les Eléphanteaux as their junior team is called reached the final tournament 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Dakar, Senegal. The Ivorians gave the fans at the Stade Robert Champroux some cause to cheer with their superlative performance and a win over the Senegalese junior team.

Meanwhile, a top official of Al-Sadd Sports Club of Doha has tipped the Golden Eaglets as a one of the favourites to lift the forthcoming CAF Under-17 Championship in Morocco.

An executive with Doha Bank who doubles as the Team Manager of Al Sadd, Mohammed Saeed Al Hassan admitted the superiority of the Nigerian lads. “We never knew your team is strong. Of course, we knew the team is good but we never knew they are strong mentally.

“This is an important victory for your team and I have no doubt that you will qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. We wish you the best at the African championship in Morocco as well.”

The Golden Eaglets just returned to the country after a three weeks training tour of the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence in Doha, Qatar.

During their stay in Doha, the Golden Eaglets won its two friendly matches by beating Aspire's Under 18 team 7-1 and recorded a 1-0 win over former Asian Champions, Al Sadd Sports Club complete with former Spanish star, Raul Gonzalez.

Meanwhile, head coach, Manu Garba commended the NFF for the opportunity given to the team. “The tour of Doha is delightful and successful and now the team is battle-ready for the continental cadet competition. We are so grateful to the NFF for organising this training tour for us, coming here has given us the opportunity to prepare well for the forthcoming competition.

“We are focused on our objective to qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in UAE as African champions and we want to come back to Aspire to prepare for the World Cup.”

Eaglets' assistant coach, Emmanuel Amuneke said the players as well as the officials will not get carried away with the outpouring of praises to the team that has remained unbeaten in 26 matches.

“The truth is that this team has not won anything; so, we remain focused about our objective and we just want Nigerians to be steadfast with their prayers for these young boys.”

Some Nigerians who have watched the Golden Eaglets play, urged the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to groom the team into the next level.

The Aquatic Coach at the Aspire Academy of Sports Excellence, Ilesanmi Ajisafe said “As a Nigerian, I’m so happy to watch these boys against Al-Sadd. Apart from the fact that they won against a strong team like Al-Sadd, I was impressed with their quality and high level performance.”

Secretary-General of the NFF, Musa Amadu in Abuja said that the Golden Eaglets are fully prepared for the 2013 African U-17 Championship.

Amadu said the team’s training tour of Qatar was a blessing in disguise as it had exposed the players to the challenges ahead. “The Eaglets have played a number of friendly matches where, and one of them was with the Aspire team, which they won 7-1.

“Last week, they played with Al-Sadd Sports Club and they won them 1-0. The boys have been doing very well at the Aspire Football Academy, where they have been camping.”

The NFF scribe further disclosed that the Eaglets would train in Lagos for a couple of days, while waiting for their visas to be processed in Abuja at the Moroccan Embassy. “The team is expected to leave for Marrakesh in Morocco, where they will start getting ready for their first game in Marrakesh against Ghana.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria is the most successful nation in the tournament's history, with three titles and three runner ups. Brazil is the second most successful with three titles and 2 runner ups while Ghana and Mexico have won the tournament twice.

However, Africa is the most successful continent with 5 tournament wins (3 for Nigeria, 2 for Ghana) and 5 times as runner up. Notably the 1993 final was contested by two African teams, the only occasion when the final has been contested by two teams from the same confederation.

The two teams; Nigeria and Ghana, who incidentally are the most successful in the continent, are expected to live up to expectations by not only qualifying for the world stage in UAE but also playing or lifting the trophy.