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Nigeria’s
U-20 men’s team, the Flying Eagles, will today know who their group
opponents will be at this year’s African Youth Championship as the
draws for the biennial tournament comes up today in Tripoli,

Libya.

Already, John Obuh,
coach of the team is in Libya to have firsthand knowledge of who his
side will face at the Championship scheduled to take place from March
18 to April 1, 2011.

Aside Nigeria,
seven other African youth teams are in contention for the African crown
and a place in the World Youth Championships scheduled to hold in
Colombia later this year.

Other participants include reigning Champions Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt, Gambia, Lesotho, Mali and hosts, Libya.

The eight teams are
to be grouped into two Groups- A & B and at the end of the first
round, the top two teams in each group will get automatic tickets for
the World Cup in Colombia whilst still competing for the African crown.

Strengthening the team

Before his
departure for Libya, Obuh, who is still basking in the euphoria of his
WAFU Cup victory with Sharks FC called up 35 new players to begin
camping for the Youth Championship.

According to him,
the move to invite the new players was to give an opportunity to
previously untested players and see if they can fight their way into
the team.

“My team is still a
work in progress that is why we are still trying out new legs for
different positions and only settling for the best,” he said.

He added that he has a mission to present a good team which will make Nigeria proud at the AYC.

To secure a berth
to Libya, the Flying Eagles team made up largely of the 2009
silver-winning the Golden Eaglets team defeated their last opponents,
Mauritius, 4-1 over two legs.

The Flying Eagles, bronze winners, at last year’s edition held in
Rwanda are considered the most successful side in the biennial
championship thanks to successes in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989 and 2005.
They have been tipped for success at the championships.