Eaglets battle Guinea for World Cup ticket

The Golden Eaglets will engage Guinea in a tough Group A encounter at the 11th African Junior Championship holding in Niger as both teams seek to secure a World Cup berth.

Both teams won their respective first games and a victory today at the 30,000 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) will mean a semi-final berth and a ticket to the 2015 U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The Guineans will seek to avenge their twin loss to their Nigerian counterparts on the road to the last championship in Morocco following a 3-0 and 4-0 win in Calabar and Conakry respectively.

“I don’t want you to have the erroneous belief that we are the world champions as most commentators always say,” Coach Emmanuel Amuneke said as he warned his wards against complacence ahead of the crucial encounter.

“Nigeria are the world champions at this level but we have to create our own history by winning something; the past is gone.” Amuneke said.

The former international was an assistant coach the last time in Morocco, has every reason to be wary after the Golden Eaglets stumbled and lost 1-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their second game despite a 6-1 massacre of Ghana earlier.

“We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia,” Amuneke said.

“We came here with one objective: to qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things. You can see that if you allow them, they can play but if you follow our instructions, we will all have reason to celebrate after the game.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Chukwueze is hoping to be among the goals for Nigeria in their game against Guinea.

Chukwueze, who has scored a cumulative 13 goals in 37 matches, including a beauty in the 4-0 win over Congo Democratic Republic in the qualifiers, missed out on the first game against Niger on Sunday after a freak injury but has since returned to full fitness.

“It was hard to sit on the bench watching others play against Niger on Sunday because I wanted to showcase what I have but what was most important was the victory,” said Chukwueze who adores Dutch star, Arjen Robben.

“I’m very fine and ready to go,” said the self-assured lad. “I’m ready to mark and push the attack more if I’m fielded and by the grace of God, we shall win the match against Guinea on Wednesday.