Nigeria’s U-17 side, Golden Eaglets, will Tuesday have their work cut out when they tackle their Argentine counterparts in a friendly match at the Argentina Football Association (AFA) Training Centre in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires.
The match, which is part of the team’s preparation towards the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015, will kick off at 3:30 pm local time (7:30pm Nigerian time).
In a related development, Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach, Kabiru Baleria, has again praised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over its choice of Buenos Aires Football (BAF) as the training camp for the national U-17 team ahead of U-17 World Cup finals.
After the Emmanuel Amuneke-led side spent a few days at the idyllic BAF complex owned by former Argentine international, Matias Almeyda, Baleria said the quiet environment has added value to the team’s preparation for competition.
“It is nice we are here for our preparation towards the World Cup in Chile,” said Baleria, a former Nigerian International.
“The boys are happy and you can see the excitement on their faces since we arrived here in Buenos Aires.”
The team have been training twice daily since arriving on Friday and the technical crew is delighted at the keen competition in camp.
Coach Amuneke praised the intensity of the training and demanded further commitment from the players, adding that much was being expected from the team in Chile.
“I’m happy with the intensity of the training but we can get better,” Amuneke said on Monday.
“We have to keep working hard in the coming days because we have a few days before our first match at the World Cup.”
NFF’s Assistant Director (Technical) Siji Lagunju, who is with the team in Buenos Aires, said he was impressed with the quality of training as well as the response of the players.
He also said the players would in due time be well attuned to the demands of the technical crew.
