No Room For Error – Obuh Under-20 national team, Flying Eagles - TopicsExpress



          

No Room For Error – Obuh Under-20 national team, Flying Eagles coach, John Sam Obuh has sounded it loud and clear to his players that there will be no margin for error in Friday’s first match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey, as the Nigeria side, which finished third at the African Youth Championship (AYC) prepare to battle one of their boogey teams, Portugal. With most Nigerian fans still critical of the under-20 squad’s chances of making any remarkable impression at the championship, Obuh has declared that Friday’s opening match against Portugal is a must-win one. Two weeks ago at the Toulon International Tournament in France, Portugal edged past Nigeria 2-1 and both teams incidentally also battled leading up to the 2011 World Cup in Colombia. The first friendly in Lisbon ended goalless; while Portugal won the second match 2-0 in an invitational tournament in Panama and the Portuguese then went on to reach the World Cup final, while Nigeria crashed out at the quarterfinals against France. Obuh’s team will take on their Portuguese counterparts (kick-off 7pm Nigeria time) at Kadir Has Stadium, Kayseri to start their 2013 Junior World Cup campaign. Obuh said the Flying Eagles must therefore ensure they make fewer mistakes and the Nigerian gaffer knows how well they set out in their first match would determine how far they go in the contest. “This is our first game at the World Cup. It’s very crucial and a must-win match because a win will ease the pressure on the team and it will boost our confidence. “Victory on Friday against what many regard as a good team from Portugal will give us qualification to the next round of the competition. “We have to be calm and make sure we make fewer mistakes against a good side like Portugal. Mistakes have often cost us dearly and so we cannot afford such. “And we also have to take our chances in front of goal while always making sure we keep a clean sheet at all times,” said Obuh, who is making his second appearance at the Youth Mundial.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:21:11 +0000

Trending Topics



Recently Viewed Topics




© 2015