By Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has yet applauded the performance of the Golden Eaglets in their second game at the on-going Under 17 FIFA World Cup competition in Brazil, which saw them winning 3-2 after they had trailed Ecuador by 1-2, fifteen minutes to the end of the match.
According to the President: “The fact that the youngsters never gave up, and turned the table against their opponents, is a lesson in persistence and resilience.”
He recommended the can-do spirit displayed by the young boys to Nigerians, urging them to display such in all areas of endeavour, and in national development.
While wishing the Eaglets well in their final group match against Australia, which may well be a formality, President Buhari pledged government support to the team, as they strive to win the Under-17 World Cup yet again, thus confirming Nigeria’s position as a global power at that level.
Meanwhile, Zenith Bank Plc, partners of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), however, hailed the team for booking a place in the last 16 stage of the competition.
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To berth in the last 16 in Brazil, the Golden Eaglets defeated Hungary 4-2 last Saturday and capped it with another 3-2 defeat of Ecuador on Tuesday.
In the two matches, the team came back from 2-1 down to win at 4-2 and 3-2 respectively.
“It is not easy to achieve victory from a losing position. It shows determination and good fighting spirit.
We have a good record in this competition and we expect the Eaglets to go far in the tournament,” noted Zenith Bank’s Group Managing Director, Ebenezer Onyeagwu.
The Zenith Bank boss added that his outfit was proud of the impact made by some players in the team who emerged from the Future Eagles project the bank is having with the NFF.
In Brazil, some of the Future project products in the team are Usman IBRAHIM, Samson TIJANI (c), Olakunle Olusegun, Akinkunmi Amoo and Divine Nwachukwu.
“We are happy that the partnership is a boost to the country’s football and this is enough to make us do more for football and sports in general,” Onyeagwu added.
Tijani scored two goals while Usman scored one in the 4-2 win Nigeria recorded over Hungary. Amao and Olusegun are yet to hit target but they have been impressive in the two games.
Nigeria’s last group match is against Australia tomorrow.
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