Head coach of the Golden Eaglets, Emmanuel Amuneke, has said his team will produce their best football at the U-17 World Cup in Chile later this year.
The Nigerian team will travel for the tournament as one of the favourites, even though they finished in fourth place at the African Championship in Niger.
Amuneke argued that the Eaglets have always performed better on the global stage and it
will not be different this year.
“African football is a totally different ball game. It is more rugged and sometimes the pitch condition does not help a team that likes to keep possession of the ball, for instance,” he said.
“We do well at the World Cup because the pitches help us to play much better. This happened at the 2013 tournament in the United Arab Emirates [which Nigeria won with a 3-0 victory against Mexico in the final]. People could see our real quality”, he added.
Amuneke, who played at the 1994 World Cup in USA and won gold at the 1996 Olympicsm says he will use his international experience, to put the boys through.
“Being a former Nigerian international, I have had the opportunity to play at the highest level – at the FIFA World Cup – and it is always a good memory. It was quite an experience, and taking a team to a World Cup as a coach gives me the opportunity to let the players know what is expected at this level,” he concluded.
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