U17 World Cup: Nigeria to face Mexico, Sweden, Iraq

Nigeria’s U17 team, the Golden Eaglets,
have been paired alongside defending
champions, Mexico, in the preliminary
stages of the 2013 U17 FIFA World Cup
billed for the United Arab Emirates
from October 17 till November 7.
The situation nonetheless, Golden Eaglets’
Head Coach, Manu Garba, described the
draws, which also pitches Nigeria against
Iraq and Sweden, as very interesting and
exciting.
The Nigerian Under-17 team will play in
Group F with their centre in Al Ain.
At the Draw Ceremony conducted by
former CAF’s secretary General,
Moustapha Fahmy, at the Hotel Fairmont
Bab Al Bahr in the UAE capital, the Golden
Eaglets were picked as the second team
and would have the honour of playing the
Group’s opening game against the
defending champions, Mexico -who are
also the reigning CONCACAF Champions
on October 19.
Speaking immediately after the draws,
Coach Garba said the Golden Eaglets’
work has been cut out. He said he was
confident that that his wards would scale
the hurdle and progress from the group.
“I want to believe this is a fair draw for us
and as you know, we have no choice than
to prepare very well because this is an
interesting and exciting group,” said the
coach who was one of the architects that
guided Nigeria to her last triumph in
2007.
“Of course, you will pick Mexico as one of
the best teams at this level having been
champions in two recent editions of the
tournaments but we (Nigeria) are also a
power to be reckoned with at this level
because we have won it on three previous
occasions.
“With all sense of humility, we would do
our best to qualify from this group
because it is our aim to do well at the
World Cup. We are not going to underrate
any team starting from our first game
against Mexico.
“Though Sweden and Iraq are coming to
the tournament for the first time, we
cannot dismiss them too because every
team at any tournament comes with the
prospect to emerge champions. So, we
just have to take one step after the other
in order to realise our ambition at the
World Cup,” he added.
THE FULL DRAW:
Group A (Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah):
United Arab Emirates, Honduras,
Brazil, Slovakia
Group B (Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi):
Uruguay, New Zealand, Côte d’Ivoire, Italy
Group C (Fujairah, Sharjah): Croatia,
Morocco, Panama, Uzbekistan
Group D (Sharjah, Fujairah): Tunisia,
Venezuela, Russia, Japan
Group E (Dubai, Al Ain): Canada, Austria,
Iran, Argentina
Group F (Al Ain, Dubai): Mexico, Nigeria,
Iraq, Sweden.

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