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Coach of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles, John Obuh has now set his
sights on achieving an unprecedented cup victory at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup
in Colombia following Thursday’s draws.

The Flying Eagles were pitched in Group D alongside Croatia,
Saudi Arabia and Guatemala in the tournament’s first round.

The Nigerians open their campaign on July 31 against Guatemala
before taking on Croatia on August 3. They will then wrap up their first round
group with a game against Saudi Arabia on August 6.

It will be Nigeria’s ninth appearance at the World Cup but their
best performances have been two second-place finishes at the 1989 tournament in
Saudi Arabia and the 2005 tournament in the Netherlands respectively.

Nigeria also finished third at the 1985 tournament in the old
Soviet Union but Obuh is out to do what the likes of Tunde Disu (1989) and
Samson Siasia (2005) could not achieve; and that is winning the U-20 World Cup.

“Our target is to make history for the country and ourselves. We
have ambitions,” said Obuh. “We have played two finals of this competition and
are yet to win it and so making history will now be to win it.”

Mixed reactions

On his reaction to the draw, Obuh seemed calm, especially as the
Flying Eagles could had found themselves in a tougher group.

“I wouldn’t say this is a tough or easy group. These days, I
don’t put a lot of importance on what group I find myself,” said Obuh who was in
charge of the Nigerian team to the 2009 U-17 World Cup.

He added: “This was after the Under-17 World Cup, where we were
supposed to be in the ‘group of death’. Also at the AYC, it was another
so-called ‘group of death’ that had Ghana and Cameroun.

“The best approach therefore is to face any team you come across
in any competition.”

He nevertheless insists his team will be focused on the
challenge awaiting them in Colombia.

“We still need to be focused on our group for the World Cup, put
in all we have got so as to go beyond this stage of the competition.”

Although Obuh knows next to nothing about most of his Group D
rivals, he does know a bit about the Saudis having played against them in a
recent friendly in the United Arab Emirates.

“We drew that game but we had everything going for us to win
it,” continued Obuh regarding the game which ended in a 1-1 draw.

“We outplayed them and now at least seven of the players who
played against them in Dubai are not here with us in South Africa for the AYC.
We have a better team now than we had in Dubai.

He added: “We will not underrate any of our opponents because there could be
surprises. Every game in our group will be like a cup final. We just have to be
prepared.”