No Hiding Place For Niger, Golden Eaglets Vow

GOLDEN Eaglets captain, Kelechi Nwakali, declared Saturday that the team was not under pressure, as they battle host Niger Republic in today’s opening game of the African U-17 Youth Championship. Today’s match will be played at Stade General Seyni Kountche 30,000 capacity Stadium.

  As expected, the Golden Eaglets would be hard pressed by the home team for obvious reasons as their fore bearers defeated their host 4-1 at the same venue in one of the qualifiers towards Morocco 2013.

  Nwakali said he and his teammates are ready to spoil the day for the host. “We are not under pressure of playing against the host Niger,” he said.

  The attacking midfielder who is the junior brother of Chidiebere Nwakali who was a member of the 2013 World Cup-winning team further said. “Rather, it is a great honour for us to start the competition against the host and we are ready to face the challenges.”

  He revealed that the coaching crew had updated them on what to expect playing in front of a partisan home fans, adding the onus is now on them to deliver.

  Said Nwakali: “They (coaching crew) have told us this is the most important match because if we win, it would boost our confidence for the other matches in order to qualify for the World Cup in Chile. Once we win our first game, we would be relaxed to play the other two group matches.”

  Nwakali has been the fulcrum of the team since he led his teammates to a third-place finish at the WAFU B Tournament in April 2013 and he reckoned that they are ready to go all the way in Niger.

  “We came third the first time I led out the team to a tournament in Togo,” recalled Nwakali. “The experience was a good exposure for us; we were disappointed in Togo but we are here in Niger to correct ourselves and do much better.”