Cadet national team, Golden Eaglets’ hat-trick hero against Ecuador at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil, Ibrahim Sa’id has declared that he and his colleagues in the Nigerian side want to return home with the trophy at the end of the championship in the Samba Nation,. megasportsarena.com reports.
Although he failed to replicate his heroics in the last group match against Australia, which the Eaglets surprisingly lost 2-1 to the team they had been comprehensively on five different occasions in the same competition, Sa’id said they have put that setback behind them and will go all out for victory against Holland on Tuesday.
Casting his thoughts ahead of the round of 16 game against the star-studded Dutch, who have several players from Ajax Amsterdam and other top club academies across Europe, Sa’id noted that it will not be an easy game, but is equally banking on familiarity with the venue to see his side through.
Indeed, the match will hold at the venue of Nigeria’s first two stunning come-from-behind victories, when they dumped Hungary and Ecuador at Estadio Olimpico in Goiania, which has set the Eaglets’ camp buzzing once again, on learning of the location of their round of 16 showdown with the Oranje.
To reach this stage, Sa’id embodied the motto in Nigeria’s second win, completing the only hat-trick of Brazil 2019 thus far, with a pair of goals in the 85th and 89th minutes, with his second of the night being the standout sizzler – a curling, dipping golazo from outside the left edge of the box. Final score: Nigeria 3, Ecuador 2.
Combining the two wins that ensured their place in the knockout phase, the Eaglets outscored their opponents 5-0 in the final 15 minutes of the match, and Sa’id is not scared of saying the Nigerian team are always special, following two emphatic comebacks and searching for a record extending sixth under-17 world title.
Three minutes into their debut at the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup, a competition that they have won an unmatched five times, Nigeria conceded their first goal, as Gyorgy Komaromi tapped in David Laszlo’s soaring cross at the far post, and Hungary were up on the favourites, but the final scoreline was 4-2 against the East Europeans.
In the second match, the Eaglets scored first, when Sa’id capitalised on a goalkeeping error to put Nigeria ahead five minutes after the opening whistle, but that lead lasted barely ten minutes, as very loose defending saw Ecuador equalize then go ahead after 51 minutes of match time, when a spot kick by Johan Mina turned the table again, until the lad of the day struck twice under five.
He has now taken his mind back to what was regurgitating through him on that glorious day, which he admits will remain forever green, but acknowledged how scary it was, as the clock was ticking away, and Sa’id stressed that they cannot afford a repeat of those narrow escapes, now that the knock out stage is here and their vision for the trophy gets tighter.
Sa’id told FIFA.com: “In my mind, I kept thinking, ‘We should not be losing.’ It gave me the fire to score a goal like this, along with the help from my team-mates. We want to bring this World Cup back to Nigeria. I want to make my country proud of the team.”