Manu Garba’s side will look to continue from where
they stopped at the African Youth Championship by recording an emphatic
win in New Plymouth
Brazil and Nigeria will meet for the fourth time at the Fifa U20 World
Cup when the Stadium Taranaki opens its doors on Monday for the first
match in New Plymouth.
This is Nigeria's 11th U20 World Cup since their debut at Mexico 1983
where they were trounced 3-0 by eventual champions Brazil in the group
stages.The Flying Eagles’ wings have always been clipped in their meetings with the South Americans. Nigeria lost 3-0 to them at Mexico 1983 before getting whipped 4-0 at the sixth edition staged in Chile while their last meeting in Netherlands in 2005 ended 0-0.
The African champions parade a well-built, formidable and physical defensive unit with Taiwo Awoniyi expected to lead the frontline just behind Kelechi Iheanacho, Musa Yahaya and Bernard Bulbwa in attacking midfield positions as part of Manu Garba's settled line-up.
“There is a lot of pressure but we do not allow it to affect us because once you put yourself under pressure, you are most likely to make a lot of mistakes,” coach Garba told the NFF website.
“For us, we do not know the word pressure. We do our best and just pray for mother luck.
“We have all it takes to go all the way and take the Cup back to Nigeria.”
Brazil on their own part staged a return to the competition after missing out of the 2013 edition in Turkey, and coach Rogerio Mical’s team will be eyeing a strong finish in the competition they have won five times.
Cruzeiro's Judivan Jelavic is likely to lead the line in attack with Gabriel Jesus and Boschilia dictating the pace from the midfield with Sao Paulo’s Lucao starting in the centre of defence.
A victory for the Flying Eagles in this encounter will not only see them end the jinx against the Brazilians, it will also be a good start for them as they hope to lift their first world title after two failures in the final in 1989 and 2005.
No comments:
Post a Comment