Ahmadu Bello Stadium To Host Nigeria-South Africa Friendly

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the weekend confirmed that the Ahmadu Bello Stadium (ABS) in Kaduna would on January 17 host the proposed friendly match between the Golden Eaglets and Amajimbos of South Africa.

Both countries will be using the match to test the readiness of their youngsters for next month's 11th African Under-17 Championship in Niger where they have been drawn in separate preliminary groups.

While the Golden Eaglets drew Niger, Guinea and Zambia in Group A, the Amajimbos who are coached by Molefi Ntseki, are in Group B alongside defending champions, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Cameroon.

Officials believe the friendly would also afford both teams the chance of playing against a team outside their sub regions. Incidentally, the trip to Kaduna would be Golden Eaglets' second time under coach Emmanuel Amuneke after they recorded a 3-2 and 3-1 win against their colleagues from Egypt last May.

Yet the forthcoming match promises to be even more exciting after the Amajimbos saw off the gritty Egyptians 4-3 on aggregate to book their
appearance at the continental cadet championship hitherto dominated by the Golden Eaglets including two gold medals in 2001 and 2007.

"This is a real good match to test our players against a quality opposition," noted Kabiru Baleria, Golden Eaglets' assistant coach."Playing against the South Africans would also give us an idea about how we can handle Zambia since they are from the same region."

It would be recalled that the NFF organised top friendly matches for the 2013 World Cup-winning Golden Eaglets and they remarkably beat Rwanda and Botswana in Calabar ahead of the CAN U-17 in Morocco.

Meanwhile, the South African 30-man of players and officials are due in Nigeria mid-week and are expected to stay for four days before returning home after the match in Kaduna.