Golden Eaglets Close To U17 World Cup Berth

Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will go into Wednesday’s match with the Young Syli of Guinea with the hope of garnering three points that will see them qualify for the 2015 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile.
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The Golden Eaglets were up and running in their first game of the 2015 Caf Africa Junior Championship with a 2-0 win over hosts Niger, thanks to two first half goals by Victor Osimhen and a sumptuous free-kick by skipper Kelechi Nwakali.
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Same can be said of the Guineans who also need a win to ease passage to Chile, which guarantees a potentially tasty encounter when the two sides meet at the Stade Seyni Kountche.
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Nigeria and Guinea are both tied on three points in Group A, but the world champions are ahead by goals difference as they defeated hosts Niger 2-0 in their opening Group A match while Guinea edged Zambia 1-0.
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The last time the two countries met at this level was en route qualifying for the 2013 event in Morocco, where the Eaglets smashed Guinea 3-0 in Conakry and humbled them 6-0 in the return fixture in Calabar for a 10-0 aggregate win.
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However Eaglets coach Emmanuel Amuneke is not carried away by the permutations and says every game at the tournament will be treated like a cup final as no stone will be left unturned to see that his team do the business in Niamey.
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“I don’t want you to have the erroneous belief that we are the world champions as most commentators always say,” Amuneke, who was part of the silver-winning squad at Morocco 2013 said.
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“Yes, Nigeria is the world champion at this level but we have to create our own history by winning something; the past is gone.
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“We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia.”
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The former FC Barcelona player also revealed that the key to victory is staying focused and playing to instructions as his wards demonstrated in the first game.
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The Eaglets were able to hold off their Nigerien counterparts who came on the offensive after conceding two first half goals but did not find a way past the Eaglets defence, a feat, Amuneke attributed to his players listening to instructions and playing as a unit.
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“We came here with one objective which was to qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things,” Amuneke stated.
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“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.”
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Amuneke will have the full complement of his squad to choose from after Kingsley Michael, who picked a knock in the game against the Junior Mena of Niger was declared fit.
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Samuel Chukwueze who sat out the game against Niger due to a freak injury is also in contention for a place in the starting line-up.
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The semifinals at the tournament automatically qualify to represent Africa at the 2015 Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile in September.