The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Flying Eagles

  • Flying Eagles set for 25-hour flight to New Zealand

    Flying Eagles set for 25-hour flight to New Zealand

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will be set for a most demanding 25-hour flight across three continents when they depart Germany on Sunday night for the FIFA U20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    The African champions are booked on Emirates flight, which will depart Frankfurt, Germany, Sunday night and arrive Dubai early morning the following day.

    They will then depart Dubai later Monday morning for Melbourne, Australia, before they head out again to Auckland, New Zealand, arriving Tuesday afternoon.

    The duration of these flights is 18 hours and 35 minutes.

    And from Auckland, they will fly out on a local flight to New Plymouth, where they will play all their first round matches against Brazil, North Korea and Hungary. The duration of that local flight is half an hour.

  • WYC: Garba worried over Flying Eagles’ defence

    WYC: Garba worried over Flying Eagles’ defence

    Flying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, has admitted the defence remains his major worry going into the FIFA U-20 World Cup, while at the same time saying his attack will be the most lethal in New Zealand.

    “We still need to work on our defence. This is where we need to work on before the World Cup kicks off,” africanFootball.com quoted Garba as saying on Thursday.

    “The mental speed of the players (has to be better) – they do recover in good time, but they often fail to do the marking when it matters most, to close up on the opposition.

    “But I believe before the World Cup, the defence will be a lot tighter because we will surely work on those areas. This is the major weakness of this team.”

    However, the Flying Eagles has an embarrassment of talent to choose from in attack with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi, Isaac Success and Kelechi Iheanacho on top form and scoring goals for the coach to say his strike force will be the deadliest at the World Cup

    “The midfield is the main strength of this team, but with the inclusion of Isaac Success, Kelechi Iheanacho and Moses Simon, the attack will be very, very deadly. It will be difficult to get an attack that will be as deadly as that of Nigeria,” he warned.

    The African champions will play Brazil, North Korea and Hungary in the first round of the competition, which kicks off on May 30 in New Zealand.

  • WYC: Burden of expectations on Flying Eagles – Obuh

    WYC: Burden of expectations on Flying Eagles – Obuh

    Former Flying Eagles coach, John Obuh, has said expectations for the Flying Eagles to have a good outing at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand are very high judging by the calibre of talent in the side and their antecedents.

    Manu Garba’s boys remain unbeaten since the team transitioned from being World’s U-17 champions and will face Brazil, Hungary, and North Korea in Group E of the championship billed to commence on May 30, Goal reports.

    Obuh, who led Nigeria the Flying Eagles to Colombia 2011 and Turkey 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cups, told Goal that the current set has quality players and should go for gold.

    “I’m sure the players know the magnitude of the tournament and judging from what they have been doing at the U-17 level down to the African Youth Championship, they are expected to do well,” Obuh told Goal.

    “The team has players that have been together for a while and can win, so Nigerians are expecting the team to come out flying when the championship begins.”

    He also claimed that the wild card given to Europe-based trio of Kelechi Iheanacho, Isaac Success and Moses Simon in the 21-man final squad will not have a negative impact on the team.

    “I don’t see that affecting the team because they are doing well for their respective teams. Remember they were part of the team to the U-17 World Cup and aside from this, their coaches have a strong faith in them,” he continued.

    “The most important thing is that they join the team on time, blend and complement their other colleagues’ efforts. With this, there won’t be any problem,” he concluded.

    .

  • Update: Iheanacho, Success, Moses, make Flying Eagles’ WYC squad

    Update: Iheanacho, Success, Moses, make Flying Eagles’ WYC squad

    Flying Eagles Coach, Manu Garba, on Friday released his 21-man squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup starting this month in New Zealand.

    The list included Musa Muhammed, Kelechi Iheanacho, Taiwo Awoniyi and Granada forward Isaac Success, Goal reports.

    The squad:

    Goalkeepers: Joshua Enaholo (MFM FC); Dele Alampasu (Football College Academy); Olorunleke Ojo (Giwa FC).

    Defenders: Musa Muhammed (FC Heart Academy); Mustapha Abdullahi (Spotlight FC); Zaharaddeen Bello (Dabo Babes Academy); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Izu Omego (Apapa Golden Stars); Chidiebere Nwakali (Manchester City, England).

    Midfielders: Akinjide Idowu (Nigeria Young Academy); Ifeanyi Ifeanyi (Water FC); Kingsley Sokari (Enyimba FC); Ifeanyi Mathew (El-Kanemi Warriors); Musa Yahaya (Tottenham FC, England); Bernard Bulbwa (Esperance ST, Tunisia); Godwin Saviour (FC Sports) .

    Forwards: Taiwo Awoniyi (Imperial Academy); Chidera Ezeh (FC Porto, Portugal); Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Success Isaac (Granada FC, Spain).

  • WYC: Garba sets to unveil Flying Eagles squad

    WYC: Garba sets to unveil Flying Eagles squad

    Flying Eagles’ coach, Manu Garba, will later on Friday announce his final 21-man squad for this month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    At least nine players will be cut from the 30-man preliminary squad, sl10.ng reports.

    The team will continue its build up for the tournament with a match against Nurnberg U-23 at the Sudwest Park on Friday.

    The African champions’ final test match is against Freiburg U-23 team on May 19.

    The team will fly out to New Zealand via Australia from Germany on May 23. Nigeria plays in Group E alongside Brazil, Hungary and South Korea.

    The Flying Eagles will start its campaign against five-time World champions Brazil on June 1.

    Garba will most likely include in-form striker Taiwo Awoniyi in his list, while also including Joshua Enaholo, Musa Muhammed, Kelechi Iheanacho, Idowu Akinjide, Mustapha Abdullahi, Onyinye Ndidi, Dele Alampasu and Ifeanyi Matthew.

    “It’s going to be tough to select the final 21 players,” a top official of the team told sl10.ng

    “Majority of the players in camp helped us during the qualifiers and none of them wants to remain behind.”

  • Flying Eagles to win WYC – Akwuegbu

    Flying Eagles to win WYC – Akwuegbu

    Gratkorn FC of Austria manager, Benedict Akwuegbu, has tipped the Flying Eagles to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    And the former assistant general manager of Heartland FC praised coach Manu Garba-led technical crew for a job well done.

    “The Flying Eagles is a fantastic team with a group of confident and talented youngsters,” he told africanFootball.com.

    “The team has been doing well and will win the FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time in Nigeria history this year.

    The coaches led by Manu Garba have done a fantastic job on the team.”

    The former Nigeria international also hailed the Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick, for what he has done for Nigeria football thus far.

    “I want to commend NFF president Amaju Pinnick for what he has done for Nigerian Football in the short time he has been around,” he said.

    “He has really done well especially in human capacity building and has recognised key stakeholders like referees and ex-internationals.”

     

  • Manu: Flying Eagles are only at 70%

    Manu: Flying Eagles are only at 70%

     The Nigeria U-20 side scored five goals, while the German side netted two goals on Tuesday. Substitute Taiwo Awoniyi grabbed a hat-trick, with Godwin Saviour and Chidera Ezeh scoring a goal each to seal the win.

    Flying Eagles were flawless and took their chances against a strong Hoffenheim  side.

    “We started the game slowly, but we later picked up to play our normal game,” said Manu after the thrilling encounter. It was a good outing overall and I will score us about 70%.”

    Manu said his team have some work to do if they are to reach a standard level.

    “But again we need to work on our defence by taking on more defensive responsibilities and our finishing has to be better as we lost several chances. All the same, we should also praise the Hoffenheim team, they are a team of professional players and they took the game to us very early on.”

    The World Cup-bound Flying Eagles will continue their build up for the Mundial with a clash with Nurnberg U-23 on May 15th at the Sudwest Park.

    These matches will be able to give Manu Garba and his assistants the chance to run a final rule over the players they will pick for their 21-man squad for the World Cup.

    Nigeria will submit a final squad to FIFA on May 15. Their final test match is slated for Freiburg against the U-23 team of Freiburg on May 19. The team are due to fly out to New Zealand via Australia from Germany on May 23.

    Nigeria have been paired with Brazil, Hungary and South Korea in the Group E of the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The Flying Eagles will begin their campaign on June 1 against the talented Brazilian side.

  • Flying Eagles get World Cup warning from James

    Flying Eagles get World Cup warning from James

    Hoffenheim U-15  Nigerian-born coach Benjamin James has warned that the Flying Eagles must make the most of their chances after they created a rash of openings against Hoffenheim U-23s only to put away five of them.

    James was in the stands to watch the Nigeria U-20s demolish Hoffenheim 5-2 in a test match on Tuesday ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    “It was not a bad game, but the Flying Eagles must work on their quick recovery because it is very important to work as a team. I hope the coach will correct what I noticed,” said the former strapping Shooting Stars defender, who has been in Germany for about 18 years.

    “Also, they created so many chances but for a good team you don’t need so many chances to make a goal.  You need one, two chances to score. They, therefore, have to utilise all their chances because at the World Cup chances will be a lot fewer”.

    He said he expects the Flying Eagles to go all the way in New Zealand.

    “If they could work on some of the flaws we saw today, they can really reach the final and finally win it for Nigeria,” he predicted.

    Incidentally, six players who have passed through James at the Hoffenheim U-15s featured against the Flying Eagles on Tuesday.

    James equally tipped Germany to shine in New Zealand.

    “They are a very good side. They are the European champions and a lot is also expected of them,” he said.

  • WYC: Moses Simon may be omitted from Nigeria squad

    WYC: Moses Simon may be omitted from Nigeria squad

    Flying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, is undecided whether to include Gent of Belgium forward, Moses Simon, in his 21-man squad for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, sl10.ng reports.

    Garba has concluded on his team for the World Cup in New Zealand, but is yet to decide on two players to drop from the squad.

    The 19-year-old Simon is currently involved in a league play-off for his Belgian club, and is not expected to join the team until at least May 25.

    Although Garba is disposed to having the former AS Trencin attacker in the team, sl10.ng gathered that he is unsure whether to include the player in the final list since he hasn’t been a part of the team and as a result the coach has not submitted his list to the Nigeria Football Federation.

    The deadline for the submission of final lists is midnight on Friday, and Manu has until Friday evening to submit his list to NFF for onward submission to FIFA.

     

  • Flying Eagles defeat Hoffenheim U23 in friendly

    Flying Eagles defeat Hoffenheim U23 in friendly

    A second half hat-trick from Taiwo Awoniyi helped the Flying Eagles to a 5-2 friendly victory over Hoffenheim’s U23 side on Tuesday, sl10.ng reports.

    Saviour Godwin opened the scoring for the African champions early in the match, but the Germans leveled up after some poor defending from the Nigerians.

    Chidera Ezeh restored Nigeria’s lead later in the first half, but the Germans  restored parity again as both teams went into the half time break level at 2-2.

    The second half got off to a slow start but the introduction of Nigeria U20 top striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, changed the complexion of the game.

    He was introduced with 35 minutes left to play and the gangling forward proved his rating as one of Nigeria hottest teenage prospects was no fluke by firing a hat-trick to secure a comprehensive victory for Nigeria.

    Despite the heavy scoreline, Coach Manu Garba was unhappy that his boys let in two goals and committed errors that could hurt the team at the tournament proper.

    “We deserve to win base on our performance but there is still room for improvement going forward. We got it right, but we made some mistake in defending,” he told sl10.ng.

    The match was arranged to fine tune the team for this month’s World Youth Championship in New Zealand.