Nigeria’s youth national team, Flying Eagles are set to settle scores with a fellow-African nation, Senegal tonight in the second round of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland, megasportsarena.com rfeports.
Both West African teams were condemned to clash early in the global youth competition, following Nigeria’s inability to finish among the top-two sides in Group D, while Senegal emerged first in their pool and are deemed favourites to reach the quarter-finals.
Paul Aigbogun’s Nigerian side finished third in Group D with four points from three games seeing them among the four best third-placed teams from the six groups that made it to the knockout stages, while Senegal won Group A after two victories and a draw.
The Junior Teranga Lions are also runners-up from the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in February, when Nigeria could only place fourth, after falling to South Africa in the losers’ final, and their performances so far at Poland 2019 have left much to be desired.
Poignantly, Senegal are the only team is this campaign that went through the group phase without conceding a goal, one of their players, Amadou Sagna scored the fastest goal in the history of the tournament, after just 9.6 seconds into their match against Tahiti. Sagna then went on to record the first hat-trick at the tournament in four years.
Consequently, many fans feel tonight’s round of 16 clash with Senegal is symbolic of only taking the Flying Eagles ‘so near yet so far’ from where the ongoing competition’s final will be played on 15th June.
Before then, the 18,000-capacity Stadion Widzewa in Lodz will host two round of 16 matches, one yesterday and the second tonight, when the Nigerian youth squad battle Senegal from 7.30pm.
Ahead of the game, Aigbogun and his lads arrived in Lodz on Saturday, as the players and officials left Qubus Hotel in Bielsko-Biala after breakfast, then moved into their new abode at Hotel Ambasador Premium, located in the heart of Poland’s third largest city, just in time for lunch.
The seven-time African champions are yet to impress in Poland since their opening day 4-0 lashing of Qatar in Tychy, with goals from Maxwell Effiom, Henry Offia, Ayotomiwa Dele-Bashiru and Aliu Salawudeen.
A 2-0 loss to USA and 1-1 draw with Ukraine, both in Bielsko-Biala, saw the Flying Eagles sneak into the knockout rounds, much to the disdain of their fans, who are no longer holding unto any iota of belief inn the team’s ability to move further in the competition.
However, a statement by the information department of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) disclosed that the team spirit in camp is high following qualification, and the prospect of reaching the quarter-finals appears to have renewed determination among the players.
However, their impending battle in Lodz, nicknamed ‘The Promised Land,’ does not hold much promise for Africa, as this early knockout tie between Nigeria and Senegal will further reduce the number of teams from the continent competing in the ongoing Youth Mundial.
The game is preceded by the fact that South Africa’s Amajita are already back in Johannesburg, following group stage elimination, while continent champions, Mali face an uphill task against Argentina tomorrow.
Dramatically, half of the Poland 2019 round of 16 fixtures all have teams from the same continent locking horns, as Africa has Nigeria facing off with Senegal, South America’s Uruguay and Ecuador are also up in battle, Asia’s Japan and South Korea clash, as do Europe’s Italy and Poland.
For tonight’s game, Senegal’s most potent weapon is Amadou Sagna, who boasts with three goals after three games and he is expected to cause a lot of troubles for the Nigerian backline.
Gates open at midday and fans would have a chance to buy their tickets, which will be complemented by activities such as the locker room experience, photo booths and a pre-match music extravaganza.
