A confident Nigerian team said it would not under-rate the opposition but rather go with full confidence into picking all three points when they take on Dominican Republic at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza on Sunday evening in the FIFA U20 World Cup, which started in Argentina on Saturday.
Head coach Ladan Bosso, his assistants and the players were at the match venue on Friday evening for a familiarisation visit ahead of Sunday’s encounter, which is their first in a pool that also includes Italy and Brazil.
“As I stated earlier, we are happy with the results from the two friendly matches we played in Buenos Aires. We won one against an Argentina club and then drew with the Colombia U20 team that’s also taking part in this tournament. Those are not bad results.
“More than anything else, what the results have done is to give us confidence that we can get the job done. Victory over Dominican Republic on Sunday will stabilise our winning mentality. It is a factor that matters in championships and that is why we are determined to win on Sunday”.
On Thursday, the seven-time African champions and two-time finalists at the U-20 FIFA World Cup, held their first training session in Mendoza, with Bosso supervising a programme that lasted two hours. There was another session on Friday.
Italy-based Victor Eletu eventually joined the squad a couple of days ago, and will strengthen the team’s engine room from where the forwards will expect the supplies to down the opposition.
Bosso will most likely opt for the squad that started the friendly against Colombia in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, with Chijioke Aniagbosos in goal, Daniel Bameyi, Solomon Agbalaka, Abel Ogwuche and Benjamin Frederick in defence, and Ibrahim Muhammad, Samson Lawal and Jude Sunday upfront. However, Emmanuel Umeh, who was among the scorers in both friendlies, could start against the Dominican Republic.
Nigeria qualified at the world stage after easing to a 4-0 victory over Tunisia in the third-place match at the 17th Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in March.
On their part, Dominican Republic made history by qualifying for their first ever FIFA World Cup at any level after they reached the semi-final of the Concacaf U-20 Championship following a 1-0 win over Jamaica in the last eight.
While Nigeria will be desperate to build on their impressive pre-tournament form, the Quisqueyano will be eager to prove their mettle and potentially cause an upset.
The Dominican Republic has lost their last five games – against Ecuador (3-0), Argentina (0-4), Uzbekistan (0-3), Iraq (3-2) and Brazil (1-0).
The Flying Eagles will take on Italy in a second group game on Wednesday.
Courtesy: NFF Communications Department
