Manu: I will be disappointed not to beat Morocco

Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has said he will be “highly disappointed” were his team not to beat Morocco in Casablanca in a second friendly on Friday.

Both teams played out a 2-2 draw in the first match played in Rabat on Wednesday.

They are both preparing for 2015 African Youth Championship qualifiers early next month.

“I will be highly disappointed if we didn’t win the second match as this will help team confidence,” said Manu.

“This is a team who want to win always and so I expect us to improve on what we did on Wednesday by converting our chances and correct our mistakes.

“We need to improve on our goal scoring and also work on our defence.

“We are also yet to hit peak form because most of these players have not been in action for some time now.”

The Flying Eagles coach added: “Overall it was not a bad match being our first top friendly since we assembled this team.

“Some of the players lacked confidence and at this level we have to dominate.

“What gave me the biggest satisfaction was that we created so many chances and had we buried them, we would have been talking a different story now.

“It was most helpful for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to have organised these matches for us and I believe if we could get another two such games, we would be a lot more stable as a team.”

The U17 World Cup-winning coach will also praise the character of the Junior Atlas Lions of Morocco.

“They showed great character by coming back twice against us. They passed the ball very well and did not hold on to it for too long,” he said.

“This is a team who will go places going by what we saw.”

The second friendly will now be played by 4pm local time, which is same time with Nigeria, in Casablanca.

Meanwhile, all the foreign-based call-ups bar Isaac Success and Dele Alampasu have joined the rest of the squad left behind in Abuja.

The players are skipper Musa Muhammed, Kelechi Iheanacho, Chidiebere Nwakali and Chidera Eze.

Hosts Morocco peg back Flying Eagles

Hosts Morocco forced Nigeria’s Flying Eagles to a 2-2 draw in a friendly at the National Sports Centre in Rabat in a friendly on Wednesday.

The Flying Eagles twice led through Alhassan Ibrahim aka Mu-azam in the second half, before skipper Arjoune Omar drew the home team level in stoppage time.

The Flying Eagles dominated the first half even after the hosts settled quicker than them.

After just four minutes Flying Eagles goalkeeper Emeka Nwabulu was forced to make a save off a free kick.

Ifeanyi Matthew then had several chances to put Nigeria in front but his shots either were too weak or missed target within the first 18 minutes.

Taiwo Awoniyi then rounded up the Morocco goalkeeper in the 14th minute but somehow the opposing defence cleared to safety.
Muazam’s effort was then cleared off the goalline in the 28th minute and five minutes later, the striker’s shot missed by a whisker.
In first half stoppage time, Awoniyi blew away a glit-edged chance as the Flying Eagles bossed the game.

Abdullahi Alfa ought to have opened scoring for Nigeria five minutes after the break but he chose to sky his shot wide off target when he was left all alone with goalkeeper Majid Aymane.

Muazam finally broke the deadlock after 64 minutes with a gentle tap in from close range, but almost immediately Morocco drew level when skipper Wilfred Ndidi put a low cross into his own net.

Nwabulu made a big save for Nigeria in the 74th minute and then both Muazam and Matthew came close to regaining the Eagles lead.

Muazam then scored his brace in the 81st minute, before skipper Omar salvage a result for the Junior Lion Atlas in stoppage time with a near post header.

MANU MULLS NEW CENTRAL DEFENCE COMBO

Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba is considering starting with a new central defence pairing of Wilfred Ndidi and Zaharadeen Bello for Wednesday’s friendly against Morocco U20s.

Manu appeared to have settled with Aliyu Abubakar partnering stand-in captain Ndidi in the heart of the back four.

But in Monday evening’s training at the Wellness and Sport Center outside Casablanca, he paired Ndidi with Bello, who incidentally partnered Abubakar when the Golden Eaglets won a record fourth FIFA U17 World Cup last year.

Otherwise, he has a settled starting XI with Adamu Abubakar in goal with Izu Omego at left back and Mustapha Abdullahi playing at right back.

The midfield has Akinjide Idowu, Abdullahi Alfa, Bernard Bulbwa and Ifeanyi Matthew, who shone like a million stars in the 12-0 spanking of Lugbe United last week.

The attack will be anchored by Taiwo Awoniyi and Alhassan Ibrahim aka ‘Mu-azam’ in Manu’s favoured 4-4-2 formation.

However, Manu said he hopes to give all squad members a run out in Morocco as the Flying Eagles continue their buildup for next month’s AYC qualifier.

“We want to win all our matches, whether they are friendlies, qualifiers or the World Cup. We must there take all the matches very seriously,” said the Flying Eagles handler.

The team will train on Tuesday by 11am.

Wednesday’s match is fixed for Rabat by 4pm, while the second game will be played on Friday from 11am in Casablanca.

The Flying Eagles are due back in Nigeria on Saturday.

Awoniyi leads Flying Eagles to Morocco

Taiwo Awoniyi, Alhassan Ibrahim and Musa Yahaya will lead the Flying Eagles 20-man squad to two tune-up matches in Morocco this weekend.

Awoniyi and Ibrahim each fired a hat-trick in a test game on Thursday in Abuja which the country’s U20 team won 12-0.

The new Flying Eagles under coach Manu Garba will play two friendlies against their Moroccan counterparts on Wednesday, April 9, and another game two days later.

Both teams are preparing for 2015 African Youth Championship qualifiers next month.

Nigeria face the winners of the match between Kenya and Tanzania, while Morocco take on the winners of the clash between Togo and Equatorial Guinea.

The squad to Morocco:

Goalkeepers: Adamu Abubakar, Abdulazeez Abubakar, Emeka Nwabulu

Defenders: Aliyu Abubakar, Wilfred Ndidi, Prince Izu Omego, Ifeanyi Nweke, Mustapha Abdullahi, Zaharaddeen Bello

Midfielders: Abdullahi Alfa, Akinjide Idowu,Ifeanyi Matthew, Samuel Mathias, Musa Yahaya, Anthony Omaka, Bernard Bulbwa

Strikers: Taiwo Awoniyi, Alhassan Ibrahim, Suleiman Abdullahi, Abubakar Lawal

FLYING EAGLES WIN BIG IN READINESS FOR MOROCCO

The Flying Eagles pounded Lugbe United 12-0 in a test game in Abuja on Thursday in readiness for two friendlies against their Moroccan counterparts next week.

Alhassan Ibrahim aka ‘Mu-azam’ and Taiwo Awoniyi both scored hat-tricks as the country’s U20 team overran the Nationwide side.

“We’re just starting, this was our first match since we came together,” said coach Manu Garba after the match.

“We’re yet to hit our form, there’s still some work to do, we have to improve especially concerning scoring goals.”

Despite early pressure from the Flying Eagles, the goals did not start pouring till the 13th minute, when ‘Mu-azam’ stabbed home off a corner moments after he was denied at point-blank range by the goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Ifeanyi Matthew put through Awoniyi to score the team’s second goal.

Awoniyi will then help himself to his second goal of the day on 18 minutes after he was released by Bulbwa, before the lanky striker was brought down inside the box for a penalty in the 25th minute.

Ifeanyi Matthew tucked away the resulting penalty in the 26th minute.

Scorer Matthew then turned provider when he set up Bulbwa to make it 5-0.

The outstanding Matthew then put through Mu-azam for goal number six, before Matthew scored his second goal five minutes from time.

Left back Mustapha Abdullahi made it 8-0 10 minutes after the interval, before Mu-azam completed his hat-trick in the 59th minute with a simple tap in from close range.

Three minutes later, Awoniyi also completed his treble with a powerful shot.

Manu then made a wholesale change of the starting XI in the 63rd minute.

Substitute strikers Abubakar Lawal and Sulaiman Abdullahi will add to the tally with two late goals thereafter.

Flying Eagles vs Lugbe United

Adamu Abubakar – Mustapha Abdullahi (Ifeanyi Nweke 63), Izu Omego (Sirajo Mazadu 63), Wilfred Ndidi (Timothy Danladi 63), Aliyu Abubakar (Bello Zaharadeen 63) – Abdullahi Alfa (Anthony Omaka 63), Akinjide Idowu (Mathias Samuel 63), Bernard Bulbwa (Musa Yahaya 63), Ifeanyi Mathew (Ahmed Umar 63) – Taiwo Awoniyi (Sulaiman Abdullahi 63), Alhassan Ibrahim (Abubakar Lawal 63)

Coach Manu Garba

Alampasu leads 20 Eaglets to Flying Eagles

Goalkeeper Sunday Alampasu will lead 19 other players from the Golden Eaglets to the Flying Eagles training camp in Abuja.

Alampasu was named best goalkeeper at last year’s FIFA U17 World Cup and was also picked for the country’s squad to the recent CHAN in South Africa.

Some of the other players invited are Wilfred Ndidi, Abdullahi Alfa, Akinjide Idowu, Saviour Godwin, Aliyu Abubakar, Chigozie Obasi, Dennis Okon Nya and Zaraddeen Bello.

They are latest Wednesday to join 35 other players who were picked from a two-week open trial in Abuja.

The Flying Eagles under coach Manu Garba have been training for a third week in Abuja ahead of a 2015 African Youth Championship qualifier against either Kenya or Tanzania in May.

Kenya and Tanzania will do battle next month for the right to face six-time African Youth Champions Nigeria in May with the overall winners advancing to the final qualifying round in August.

The invitees:

Goakeepers: Dele Alampasu, Abdulazeez Abubakar

Defenders: Wilfred Ndidi, Prince Izu Omego, Dennis Okon Nya

Midfielders: Clement Ogbobe, Akinjide Idowu, Aliyu Abubakar, Abdullahi Alfa, Ifeanyi Matthew, Zaraddeen Bello, Emmanuel Asadu, Prince Bonkat, Mustapha Abdullahi, Chigozie Obasi

Strikers: Saviour Godwin, Nafiu Kabuga, Ahmed Umar, Bernard Bulbwa, Chinedu Enedemu