The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has charged the Nigeria U20 Flying Eagles, to do the nation proud on and off the field at the FIFA U20 World Cup which commence in Poland on Thursday.
NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi led by Amaju Pinnick, arrived at the Flying Eagles’ The Monarch Hotel camp in Bad Goegging, Germany on Friday morning, ahead of the team’s departure to the World Cup on Sunday. The duo later joined the team at training.
Pinick said “Let me state clearly that as an U20 squad from Nigeria, so much is expected of you at the world stage. Nigeria has been in the final of the FIFA U20 World Cup on two occasions and won the bronze medals once before,”Pinnick was quoted in a statement issued by the NFF’s Communications department.
“I have spoken to the head coach and he has assured me that you guys have made tremendous progress since arriving at the training camp here in Germany.” He said
The NFF President explained ”The NFF and Nigerians generally, as well as the football world, expect so much from you in Poland. You must perform very well on the field while showing good attitude and sense of fairplay, and also make discipline, diligence and decency your watchwords off the field, in order to fly Nigeria’s flag high.”
Soon after on Friday, the Flying Eagles engaged in friendly match with Red Bull Leipzig of Germany in their final preparation for the World Cup in poland, three days after drawing 1-1 with Red Bull Salzburg in another friendly in Austria.
The Flying Eagles delegation will fly from Germany to Tychy on Sunday. They will take on Qatar in their first match of the FIFA U20 World Cup on Friday, 24th May, before other Group D games against USA (27th May) and Ukraine (30th May).
“The FIFA U-20 World Cup really is a talent factory. There’ll probably be some unfamiliar faces on show for some people, but in two, three or four years’ time, they’ll be conquering stadiums in Europe and around the world. That’s another reason why it’s worth coming and watching ” says Zbigniew Boniek, President of the Polish FA and a football legend.
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is FIFA’s second oldest competition. Previous editions of the tournament have featured such comprehensive stars as Maradona, Salah Messi, Iniesta, Griezmann, and Piqué. The opening match will see hosts Poland face Colombia in Lodz on 23 May at 20:30 CET.
