Golden Eaglets battle Guinea for semifinal ticket

FRESH from their opening games victories at the on-going African Under-17 Championship in Niamey, Niger Republic, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria and their Guinean counterparts would enter the 30,000 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché Wednesday for a game that promises the winner a semifinal ticket and the accompanying qualification for the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

  Nigeria defeated hosts, Niger Republic 2-0 in their opening game, while Guinea hurt Zambia’s ambition in this championship with a 1-0 defeat. So, the stage is set for a battle of the table toppers, who have the additional incentive of a trip to Chile to fight for. 

  The Guineans are also coming into the game looking for revenge as the Eaglets stopped them from making the trip to the last edition of the championship in Morocco courtesy of an aggregate 7-0 home and away defeat in the qualifiers two years ago.

    But Coach Emmanuel Amuneke of Nigeria is not fazed by the Guinean threat, even when he is not under-rating them.

  Looking ahead to Wednesday’s game, the former African Footballer of the Year has warned his players: “I don’t want you to have the erroneous belief that we are the world champions as most commentators always say.

“Yes, Nigeria is the world champion at this level but we have to create our own history by winning something; the past is gone.” 

 Amuneke, who was an assistant coach the last time in Morocco, has every reason to be wary after the Golden Eaglets stumbled and lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their second game despite a 6-1 massacre of Ghana earlier.

  “We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia,” noted Amuneke.

  He has also reminded the players about the task ahead, urging them to be watchful of the crafty West Africans: “We came here with one

objective: To qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things. You can see that if you allow them, they can play but if you follow our instructions, we would all have reason to celebrate on Wednesday after the game.”

Guinea have some dangerous players in their midst, especially 11-shirted Abdoulaye Jules Keita, Captain Mohammed Mary Kurume and goalkeeper Mousa Camara, who foiled Zambia repeatedly on Sunday.

  The match, which will kick off at 4:00pm Nigerian time, will be handled by Ndala Jean-Jacques Ngambo from the Congo Democratic Republic, who will be assisted by Arsénio Chadreque Marengula from Mozambique and Senegalese Serigne Cheikh Toure, while Lazard Tsiba Kamba from Congo is the fourth and reserved referee, with Ngenzi Raul Gisanura to serve as match commissioner.