Iheanacho Wants Mexican Scalp Again

[Folami David]

Kelechi Iheanacho has been one of the most impressive performers of the Nigeria team at the ongoing Fifa U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
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He has been hugely instrumental in the Golden Eaglets' smooth passage to the final of the competition. His skills, vision, maturity, authority, assists and goals have been highly invaluable to Manu Garba's side.
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Iheanacho knows however that his contributions could come to naught if he fails to inspire the teammates scale the final hurdle in the shape of defending champions, Mexico on Friday.
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Nigeria has met Mexico once already in the tournament and the Africans won 6-1 with Iheanacho helping himself to four goals.
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The 17-year-old however knows things could be very different at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Friday when the teams meet for a second time.
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"I'm sure they (Mexicans) won't feel great about that first result. They'll want to put pressure on us and we'll have to be careful. We'll respect them, but it's hard to go against us when we're playing our good football," Iheanacho told fifa.com.
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In 2001, a Nigerian team boasting of talents like Joseph Eyimofe, Femi Opabunmi, Bassey Akpan, Temile Omonigho and Sambo Soga beat France 2-1 in their opening game of the competition.
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The Golden Eaglets came up against the French in the final and got outclassed 3-0. Iheanacho and his mates are cautious of a backlash and will not take the Mexicans for granted having won so comprehensively a few weeks ago.
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"We've got better since that opener. We've become closer and we're going to chase them all over the field; we're going to press them with our attackers and we won't rest. We'll go at them for 90 minutes until we're sure the trophy is ours," he said.
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Nigerian fans in the UAE have made their presence felt in all games played by the Nigerians as they travel in hordes and cheer every kick of Golden Eaglets.