Amuneke Carpets Eaglets’ Performance Against Guinea

11th CAF African U-17 Championship

Emmanuel Amuneke, Golden Eaglets’ Head coach, has described the team’s first half performance in the pulsating 1-1 draw against Guinea here at the 11th African U-17 Championship as the worst since he took over the reins of the team almost a year ago.

The lads seemingly collapsed in the first stanza as the young Syli Nationale had better initiatives and deservedly went into the lead after Nigeria conceded a soft penalty in the 11th minute.

Captain Kelechi Nwakali later got the equalizer albeit through a spot kick
towards the end of the match much to the relive of Nigerians at the stadium.

But speaking at the post match conference, Amuneke said he was shocked about the team’s performance especially in the first half, even as he praised their resilience for salvaging a point.

“Frankly, this was our worst performance and the worst I have seen from these boys because we lost the initiative and composure of the game to the Guineans, “he explained. ” We knew that the Guineans have some good individual players in No. 8( Abdul Karim Conte); No. 11(Abdoulaye Jules Keita) and No. 14( Yamodou Toure) but we expected our boys to compose themselves much better.”

He however admitted that the tactical changes he made thereafter in the second half helped the team as Ebere Osinachi and Orji Okonkwo who respectively replaced Christian Charles and Suleiman Abdullahi forced the Guineans to commit several fouls.

The match actually saw hard man, Alseny Soumah getting the matching order with six others cautioned by Congolese referee Jean Jacques Ngambo.

“Of course, I want to praise the players for their resilience in getting a draw against Guinea because this was a difficult game for them,” he maintained.

“We played much better in the second half and it was good we got the equalizer.

“I’m not the referee and I think he is in better position to know if our equalizer was a good penalty or not. We deserved what we got but we would continue to work more for the coming matches.”

Nigeria must at least guide against a defeat in their last Group A match against Zambia on Saturday to have a realistic chance of qualifying for the semi finals as well as the much sought after ticket to the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup slated for Chile later this year.

11th AJC: NFF Tidies Up Arrangements For Eaglets’ Successful Campaign

In its determination to ensure a very successful for the U-17 National Team, Golden Eaglets, at the 11th African U-17 Championship in Niger Republic, the Nigeria Football Federation has been actualizing plans to make the team’s stay in that country comfortable.

As part of this strategy, the NFF Director of Competitions, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi was in Niamey, capital of Niger Republic last week to meet with prominent personalities within the Local Organizing Committee and officials of the Embassy of Nigeria.

11th CAF African U-17 Championship

“I had meetings with the top officials of the local organizing committee of the championship, including the President of LOC, General Secretary of FENIFOOT and the Head of Competitions. Our meetings centred on accommodation and transportation of Team Nigeria during the championship, as well as accreditation of the Nigeria delegation, ticketing and other logistics.

“I also met with the top people in the Embassy of Nigeria in Niamey, with particular emphasis on ticket issues.”

Dr. Sanusi also discussed with members of the local organizing committee of the 11th African Junior Championship on the movement of the Nigeria team into Niger Republic.

“Since they are having their final training camp in Sokoto, we are making arrangements for them to move into Niamey by road, and I have intimated the organizers and we have finalized on security arrangement for the team.”

Golden Eaglets Training

The Nigeria team of 21 players, 10 officials and a number of administrative officials will depart Sokoto for Niamey on Thursday, 12th February. The Eaglets will stay at the Hotel Royale Palace, with their first two matches (against host Niger Republic and Guinea) at the Stade General Seyni Kountche, while the last match (against Zambia) will take place at the Stade Municipal, which has artificial turf.

“The Nigeria community in Niger Republic is also eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Golden Eaglets, the world champions. They have promised to give the Eaglets maximum support to go all the way and win the African trophy, which will serve as a launch-pad towards retaining the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in Chile later this year.”

Amuneke Hails Ace After Holding Eaglets

Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has thumbed-up Ace Football Academy of Kaduna after they forced his wards to a 1-1 draw on Saturday at the NFF/FIFA Goal Project in Abuja.

Christian Charles gave the Golden Eaglets a first half lead when he converted a penalty after Suleiman Muhammed’s goal-bound shot was handled in the box by Ace’s captain, Hassan; who later brought both
sides on equal terms in the second half as he nodded home a corner kick beyond Eaglets’ goalkeeper, Amos Benjamin.

Golden Eaglets

The Golden Eaglets actually started with a possible line up complete with many youngsters recruited from the national Under-15 team but it was there for all to see that some still need some catch up days leading to the team’s opening match against host (Niger) at the forthcoming Niger 2015.

“I intentionally started this match with many of our fringe players in order to see how they can collectively cope,” Amuneke said afterwards.” But Ace really gave us a good test and we can now judge some of these youngsters better.”

While Ace practically dominated the first stanza of the match but lost several opportunities, the Golden Eaglets were better towards the end of match following the introduction of their tried and tested legs.

“I think Ace was better than us especially in the first half but we are not discouraged about the performance of some of our players,” added Amuneke.”Now, we are gradually having a clearer picture of what our team would look like in Niger.”

Niger 2015, the 11the African U-17 Championship would be held in Niamey between February 15 and March 1st. The Golden Eaglets are drawn in Group A along with host, Niger; Guinea and Zambia. Nigeria and their northern neighbour, Niger, would play the championship’s opening fixture of February 15 at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) multi-purpose stadium.

NFF Congratulates Udoh, Oshoala

The Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated the duo of FIFA-badged referee Ferdinand Udoh and African Woman Player of the Year Asisat Oshoala for deserved strides they made in the past few days.

Udoh, 28, and much respected for his athletism, firmness and strict application of the rules of the game, has been selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as one of the referees for the 11th African U-17 Championship taking place in Niger Republic, 15th February – 1st March, 2015.

Oshoala, Most Valuable Player of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals in Canada, and also undisputable choice for same honour at the African Women Championship in Namibia last year, signed a professional contract with Liverpool Ladies Football Club of England.

NFF Acting President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, lauded the duo and charged them to see their strides as calls to put in even more effort and diligence into their different vocations.

“The NFF is happy with the selection of Ferdinand Udoh for the African U-17 Championship in Niger. This underscores that the integrated efforts we are making for the general improvement of refereeing in Nigeri has not gone unnoticed by the organisations that matter.

“For some years now, we have not had a Nigerian centre referee at major competitions. Now, Udoh is starting with the U-17, which we know is a stepping stone to further glory and much greater glory. Let me reiterate that our objective is to see a Nigerian referee, or referees, officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Asisat Oshoala Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the Golden Boot winner at FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada

“We congratulate Oshoala who is definitely the new poster girl of Nigeria’s women football. Her contract with Liverpool Ladies will certainly encourage her mates in the National Team to also put in more efforts to attract the attention of the best clubs in the world.”

Oshoala was duly crowned the African Woman Player of the Year and Youth Player of the Year at the Glo-Caf African Football Awards in Lagos earlier this month, with Nigeria also claiming the Women National of the Year diadem.

Ferdinand Anietie Udoh, born in 1987, became a FIFA-badged referee in 2013.

Nigeria’s leading assistant referee, Peter Edibi, is presently working at the 30th Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea.

Ahead CAN U-17 Championship, Golden Eaglets Shelve Festive Activities

Determined to put up good a performance at CAN U-17 Championship, Niger 2015, the Golden Eaglets have shelved plans of observing public holidays in-order to continue with their training sessions at the NFF/FIFA Goal Project in Abuja.

All the national teams except the Golden Eaglets are presently on break but Emmanuel Amuneke, the Head Coach of the Nigeria’s U-17 team, said the players needed to be fit as fiddle in order to play at
optimum level even as he commended his wards for sacrificing their comfort while others are on festive holiday.

Golden Eaglets shortly before the team’s training session

“The only magic in football is fitness and not any fetish thing; and without fitness, we can’t be a winner,” said Amuneke who clocks 44 on December 25th.” By the grace of God, we would train once on Thursday
because we need to keep ourselves very fit for the task ahead.”

Wednesday’s morning training saw the players being drilled physically including athleticism, abdominal exercises amongst others and would expectedly continue with same routine in the coming days.

“We are quite impressed with the response of the players but we are going to push them even harder,” explained Amuneke.” The players need to regain their fitness level because some are still rusty since we
went on break after the qualification in September.

He adds:” For us to function well, we must be ready to work well because apart from your skill, you have to push yourselves very hard and that is why the like of Messi and Ronaldo are still the best in the world.”

Speaking further, team’s coordinator, Prince Udofia said it was important to continue with the training regimen during the festive holiday period:”I think no sacrifice is too small to be champions and
we have to commend the players’ efforts in this regard.”

The Golden Eaglets were on Sunday drawn against the hosts, Niger in Group A along with Guinea and Zambia in Group A of the 11th African U-17 Championship tagged Niger 2015 that would be held between February 15th and March 1st next year in Niamey.

NIGER 2015: Golden Eaglets Get Fair Draw

Emmanuel Amuneke, Golden Eaglets’ Head coach, has described Sunday’s draw of the 11th African U-17 Championship-Niger 2015- that pitched Nigeria against Niger, Guinea and Zambia in Group A as a fair deal,
adding that his wards would be focussed at securing a ticket to the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Chile.

“I think it is a fair grouping not minding the fact that we are going to face the host country, Niger,” Amuneke stated. “We are not going to underrate any of the teams and as I said before the draw, our sole
objective in Niger is to qualify for the World Cup and after that, we can begin to talk about other things.”

Emanuel Amuneke

Indeed, Golden Eaglets have their work cut out since they are going to battle against the host whom their illustrious predecessors, white-washed 10-1 on aggregate in the qualifiers for Morocco 2013 where they finished second and secured a ticket to the FIFA World Cup in the UAE – and eventually earned Nigeria a record fourth title.xa

“We are aware of the task ahead of us and what happened between the Golden Eaglets and Niger the last time is immaterial now,” noted Amuneke. “Our boys have to go out there and show that this set of Golden Eaglets is good in their own right and we must first secure a ticket to the World Cup.”

Though Zambia and Guinea are making a return to the competition after a break since they failed to qualify the last time in Morocco, Amuneke said they won’t be treated with kid’s gloves:”Both Zambia and Guinea showed they are a strong side during the qualifiers; so we are going to take all our matches seriously.”

In the other half of the draw, defending champions, Cote d’Ivoire would slug it out in Group B along with the trio of South Africa, Mali and Cameroon who incidentally were not in Morocco 2013.

Niger 2015 tournament will take place between February 15th and March 1st next year in Niger with the semi-finalists guaranteed a ticket to the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held between October 17th and November 8th, 2015 in Chile.