The head coach of Nigeria’s football U-17 team, Nduka Ugbade, has admitted that every team would be determined to beat his team in Algeria, but they are ready for any challenges as the competition gets underway on Saturday Night.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of the Golden Eaglets’ first game against the Zambians on Sunday, at the Stade Chahid Hamlaoui stadium in Constantine, the former Eaglets skipper admitted his team is under pressure, but added that the team will give everything in their capacity to excel in Algeria.
” We are under pressure. We know that every team wants to beat Nigeria. I am not so much interested in the trophy as in the development of the players, and the beauty of the game”, Said Ugbade.
“These are young players. You can never say after all your preparations what comes next because you are playing technically, you are also playing tactically, and also have to consider the psychological discipline of the players. We want the players to be disciplined to go for 90 minutes to emerge victorious.
” To achieve this, we want to do everything humanly possible within the context of our strength and capacity to see that every team that comes against us is defeated.
The captain of the team, Precious Williams, echoed the words of his trainer by admitting that Nigeria should not be handed the tag of ‘favorites’, adding that the team will respect all opponents in Group A where there is Zambia, Morocco, and South Africa.
” We respect all the teams in the group. We are here to develop our football. We cannot say that we the favorites because we are yet to play any team in the group
” Our focus is to play according to the instructions of our coaches. We will defend and attack as a team and help one another to achieve a good result against Zambia.
Nigeria are a two-time winner of the competition in 2001 and 2007, the same number of times as Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, and The Gambia. Cameroon, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and South Sudan are in Group C While host Algeria are in Group A with Senegal, Congo, and Somalia.