Nigeria Content Online

As the national
U-20 team, the Flying Eagles get set for their African Youth
Championship qualifying match against Guinea’s U-20 side this Saturday,
President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Aminu Maigari, has called
on Nigerians to turn out en-masse at the National Stadium, Abuja, to
cheer the team to victory.

Aside games
involving the Super Eagles, Abuja residents rarely throng the stadium
when other national teams are playing with many always complaining
about the location of the stadium which is outside the city centre.
They have also complained about the high gate fees and the NFF has as a
result fixed the price at N100 and N200 so as to allow as many
Nigerians as possible to turn out for the match which is the first on
the road for the Flying Eagles as they seek for place in the FIFA U-20
World Cup finals coming up in Colombia next year. The Flying Eagles
have been training in Abuja ahead of the game and according to Maigari,
only need good support from the stands to overcome their opponents in
the crunch game.

“The team has
trained very well and I can tell Nigerians that this team is ready for
the match,” he said. “The technical crew has been doing great work. But
we are appealing to Nigerians to come to the Stadium in large numbers
on Saturday and give the team support. I spoke to the players and they
said they are ready for the battle, and that all they just want to see
are people cheering them from the stands. We believe that our people
will turn out in their numbers to come and support the team.”

From Eaglets to Flying Eagles

The bulk of the
Flying Eagles consists of the Golden Eaglets that finished as
runners-up at last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria. The
team’s coach John Obuh has since then led his boys to victories in two
different Four-Nation Invitational Tournaments in South Africa and
Egypt. “This is a match we must approach with all seriousness. I have
had reports on the Guinean team and I know they are good,” said Obuh,
whose assistant Abimbola Samuel was sent to watch the Guineans’
preliminary round qualification fixture against Togo in Lome and
Conakry. Already in the country are the match officials for the game
who arrived from Burkina Faso on Wednesday while the match commissioner
Laryea Louis is expected to fly in from Ghana on Thursday.