Nigeria Sports Arena

Nigeria's U-17 Head coach ,Emmanuel Amuneke,would be the happiest man on Saturday should his wards put up a spirited  performance to ensure qualification for a ticket to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile later this year. Amuneke is best remembered for his brace in the 2-1 defeat of the Chipolopolo of Zambia in the Final Match of the 1994 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia.Though the setting on Saturday between the Golden Eaglets and the Junior Chipolopolo is different, the 1994 African Footballer of the Year has said there would be no margin for errors. He was optimistic his boys would do everything to gain a semi final berth at Niger 2015. "Our expectations (against Zambia) is to win and secure our ticket for the World Cup in Chile," former Barcelona winger told thenff.com. "We have to psyche up ourselves and forget about the draw against Guinea, we have to be optimistic to play much better."   Amuneke was of the view that the Golden Eaglets could pla...

Mercurial captain, Kelechi Nwakali, has stated here that the Golden Eaglets are not under any pressure ahead of their top of the drawer encounter against host Niger at the 30,000 capacity Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) as the 2015 U-17 Championship gets underway. As expected, the Golden Eaglets would be hard pressed by the home team for obvious reasons as their fore bearers defeated their host 4-1 at the same venue in one of the qualifiers towards Morocco 2013. So it would be a case of Déjà vu on Sunday and Nwakali said he and hismteammates are ready for the encounter: "We are not under pressure of playing against the host Niger," said the attacking midfielder who is the junior brother of Chidiebere Nwakali who was a member of the 2013 World Cup-winning team. "Rather, it is a great honour for us to start the competition against the host and we are ready to face the challenges." He revealed that the coaching crew has updated them on what to expect playi...

Emmanuel Amuneke, Golden Eaglets' Head Coach, has fore closed likelihood of screening fresh players with hordes still drooping to the NFF/FIFA Goal Project Pitch in Abuja. Though the 'screening window' to beef up Niger 2015-bound Golden Eaglets was concluded over a week ago with about 100 players picked from a rigorous exercise, the coaching crew magnanimously allowed few more recruits  since they had travelled far and wide to Abuja. "We don't have time on our hand again and we have been kind enough to see what some of you can offer but today is the final day," said Amuneke after Tuesday's evening session."Our philosophy is simple which is hard work  and we are not going to compromise it. "I want you to go back to your various academies  and continue to work harder because there could be another opportunity if we qualify for the World Cup in Chile by the grace of God," said the former Nigerian international. Already about 20 players wit...