Amuneke Praises God, Commends Players

Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has given thanks to God and commended his players for Nigeria’s ticket to the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals in Chile later in the year.

 

Speaking moments after Saturday’s convincing 3-1 defeat of Zambia, which ensured first-place finish for Nigeria in Group A, a semi final berth and automatic ticket to Chile, Amuneke told Team Media Officer Morakinyo Abodunrin that his boys fought hard on the day.

 

Can you describe your feelings tonight?

I'm very happy; and grateful to God. I'm grateful to the players because they fought so hard today. The condition of the pitch also enabled us to express ourselves much better but we are grateful to God that we have qualified for the semi final and also secured our ticket to the World Cup in Chile. We would enjoy the moment and focus on the next match but generally, I'm happy and grateful that we were able to achieve our objective.

To whom are you dedicating this victory?

How do I put this? This victory is for Nigerians especially those who believed in what we are doing from the first day. We played a very good side today (against Zambia) but we are grateful that the boys played to instructions; and they realised how important the match was. We continue to look ahead to our next game which is the semi-final and whichever team we are meeting; we have to look at those who have few knocks and see how we can have them back for our next game.

 

Everybody has been talking about the quality of the three goals your
boys scored against Zambia; what is your opinion about this?

The first goal was beautiful; the second goal is what we call, in Spain, a spectacle; and you look at Victor's second goal which was also a spectacle.

 

How will you ensure these boys don’t get carried away with this result?

We enjoy the moment and the moment we get back to our hotel, it is finished. The boys themselves have realized what we have been telling them and they have realized that to achieve in life, you must be humble and disciplined. We will continue to talk to them because we are like fathers to them and we would continue to inspire them to build upon it. I don't really pay attention to one particular player but if everybody can function and we all can carry out our duties, every player is important to us.