The Nation Newspaper

Tag: WYC

  • 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.”

     

  • 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.

  • My future will be decided before WYC – Awoniyi

    My future will be decided before WYC – Awoniyi

    Flying Eagles’ striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, has said he expects to know which club he will play for before the commencement of the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand later this month.

    Awoniyi was one of the top stars at the recent African Youth Championship in Senegal and has been linked with several top clubs in Europe and Africa, africanFootball.com reports.

    Among the clubs believed to be chasing Awoniyi are FC Porto, Celtic and Red Bull Salzburg as well as Esperance of Tunisia, whose officials are expected to storm the Flying Eagles training camp in Germany this week to try and convince the 17-year-old striker to sign for the team.

    “I’m still a free player, but I hope my future will be decided before the World Cup,” africanFootball.com quoted Awoniyi as saying in an interview published by FIFA.com

    Awoniyi, who said he hopes to study mechanical engineering at the university, also expressed confidence in Nigeria’s chances at the World Cup in New Zealand.

    “With the preparations we have put in, we want to be world champions in New Zealand. Every game will be a cup final for us,” he added.

  • Nwobodo ruled out of WYC

    Nwobodo ruled out of WYC

    Enugu Rangers midfielder, Obinna Nwobodo, has been ruled out of next month’s FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand after he suffered a cruciate ligament injury at the 2015 African Youth Championship, africanFootball.com reports.

    The midfielder suffered the knee injury in the final of the competition against hosts Senegal and he will now be sidelined for as long as nine months.

    The 18-year-old Nwobodo was named on a provisional 35-man squad for the World Cup, but he has now been effectively ruled out of the competition, which begins in New Zealand on May 30.

  • WYC: Iheanacho, Success key to Flying Eagles – Garba Lawal

    WYC: Iheanacho, Success key to Flying Eagles – Garba Lawal

    Former Nigeria midfielder, Garba Lawal, has disclosed that youngsters Kelechi Iheanacho and Isaac Success will play a big role in the Flying Eagles outing at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    The duo were not part of the team’s victorious outing at the African Youth Championship in Senegal and with Manu Garba’s side paired against five-time champions Brazil, Hungary and Korea DPR, the former Levski Sofia midfielder feels they are needed to fortify the squad.

    “[Iheanacho and Success] have been in this squad since the Golden Eaglets days, so I think they will be a good addition to the squad despite missing the AYC,” Lawal told Goal.

    “In football, you need everybody. Sometimes, you have cases of injuries and you need to make a good substitution. So I don’t think it will be a bad idea taking them to New Zealand whether they are starters or not.”

    The U-20 World Cup title has eluded Nigeria since inception with the Flying Eagles losing in the final of 1989 (Saudi Arabia) and 2005 (Netherlands) editions as Lawal insists the team must be at its best to break the jinx.

    “The U20 team has been doing great including coach Manu Garba and his crew. These are young lads that are eager to win trophies and achieve something,” he continued.

    “We can only hope they continue in that stead and they should be reminded that the U-20 World Cup is a different ball game entirely from the African Youth Championship,” Lawal added.

     

  • WYC: Iheanacho’s return excites Garba

    WYC: Iheanacho’s return excites Garba

    Flying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, has described Kelechi Iheanacho’s return to full fitness as “good news” for his team, ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    The Nigeria U-20 coach spoke after Iheanacho played all 90 minutes and made a scoring comeback in Manchester City’s 1-2 loss to Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup, sl10.ng reports.

    And he said the 18-year-old’s return is “good news” and a good development as the team continues its preparation for the U-20 World Cup.

    “Kelechi’s return is good news for us,” he said. “It is a good development for our team and it is something we are happy about because he is an important player for us.

    “I am happy that he is back and his teammates are too, so we have to wait until he comes and then we take it up from there,” Garba told sl10.ng.

     

  • WYC: It’s World Cup or nothing – Garba

    WYC: It’s World Cup or nothing – Garba

    Flying Eagles coach, Manu Garba, has said his players will strive to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup title in New Zealand.

    The African champions and one of the continent’s representatives at the competition will be seeking to win the tournament which starts in Oceania next month for the first time after recording two silver medals and a bronze medal finish at previous editions, sl10.ng reports.

    Garba, whose side has been touted as Nigeria’s best U-20 team ever, said it is about winning the tournament or nothing for the team.

    “The only wish and expectation is to get to win the World Cup,” he told sl10.ng. “We want to have a good representation for Nigeria and Africa and it is either we win the World Cup or nothing for us,” he added.