Golden Eaglets ready for tough Amajimbos’ challenge, says Amuneke

NATIONAL Under-17 boys’ team coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, believes Wednesday’s semifinal clash with the Amajimbos of South Africa will be Nigeria’s toughest challenge b yet at the on-going Niger 2015 African Under-17 Championship.

  Nigeria defeated hosts, Niger Republic, Zambia and drew with Guinea to qualify for Wednesday’s semifinals with the Southern Africans. 

   Speaking on the team’s readiness for the tie, the Golden Eaglets’ head coach admitted that it would be a keen contest but insisted his boys would grind another win and qualify for a consecutive African U-17 Championship final match.

  Nigeria was to play the Amajimbos in a friendly game in Kaduna before the championship but that did not happen. So today’s tie will determine the better of the two teams.  

 Amuneke said, “We have worked very hard to reach this stage and we just have to remain focused; and in the field of play, we have to do our job. Let us see how it goes but our dream is to win the semifinal and proceed to the final. 

  “As I always say, only God knows because our journey is not in any man’s hand but in the hands ofthe Lord. As human beings, we only have to do our job and leave the rest to God to pilot the journey.”

  The coach added that the fact that Nigeria has not lost to South Africa in a competitive match would spur the Amajimbos to want to break the jinx, adding, however, that, “we are not trying to keep any record, but what we would be trying to do is to win our game. But we should not forget that the South Africans are good to be among the last four teams at this competition and would be representing the African continent at the World Cup (in Chile). If you look at their game, you will know that it is a well-structured team regardless of the fact that they might notbe scoring lot of goals.