Nigeria’s Under-17 team, Golden Eaglets Thursday, safely arrived safely in Niamey for the 11th African Under-17 Championship and were given a royal welcome by members of the local-based Nigeria Football Supporters Club.
Flag-waving members of the NFSC led by their chairman, Sidney Sunday Ubanna, rode in a motorcade with the team to their new abode in Niamey , Palace Royale Hotel , where accommodation have been reserved for the team.
The Nigerians assured the team of total support for the team throughout their stay in Niamey. A representative of Nigeria Ambassador to Niger, who was unavoidably absent, was also at the hotel to welcome the team.
“Some of us were actually in Sokoto yesterday when you played the friendly match against Fasbir and we were really impressed with the performance of the boys,” said Sidney.”We are also expecting more of our members and we are going to support the team all the way at this championship.”
Meanwhile, Coach Emmanuel Amuneke on arrival, told the players to remain focused about the assignment at hand “We thank God we arrived safely here in Niamey and we have to remain focused in the next two weeks in order to achieve our objectives,” he said. “We are here for business and by the grace of God; it shall be well with us here in Niamey.”
In the meantime, the team would train twice on Friday and once on Saturday to strategise for their first match .The Golden Eaglets would open their Niger 2015 account with the championship’s opening fixture against the host, Niger on Sunday at the Stade Général Seyni Kountché (SGSK) multi-purpose stadium. They are drawn in Group A where they would also play Guinea and Zambia on February 18 and 21 respectively.
The Championship holds between February 15 and March 1 with the semi-finalists to represent the continent at the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile in October.
