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| Coach Emmanuel Amunike |
Nigeria U17s, Golden Eaglets, will be gunning for an
outright victory when they confront their Gabonese counterparts on Saturday at
the Stade Augustin Monedan de Sibang in Libreville.
The kick-off is fixed for 3:30pm local time, same with Nigeria.
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke declared: "We have come this far on this assignment and we are going to press for a win in Gabon on Saturday.
"The boys have really worked hard in the past few days and they are quite aware about the importance of this match; and we want to qualify for the championship in Niger and a win this weekend would really help us."
He added: "We have selected 18 good players for this match and we are confident they would deliver the goods. We shall come victorious in Gabon."
A squad of 18 players and officials including coach Siji Lagunju (chief technical officer at the Nigeria Football Federation) rode on bus in the early hours of Friday to neighboring Cotonou to connect a flight to Libreville since there are no direct connections between Nigeria and Gabon due to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brouhaha.
Accompanying officials informed on getting to Cotonou that the players are in good spirit despite the tight travelling arrangement occasioned by late issuance of visa by the Gabonese embassy in Abuja following an intervention by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday and are ready for the expected tough assignment in Libreville.
Amuneke would expectedly field his battle-hardened lads with the pair of Victor Osimhen and Kehinde Ayinde to lead the attack in a 4-4-2 formation.
Skipper Kelechi Nwakali would roam in the midfield along with Suleiman Abdullahi, Ernest Agenor and Promise Orji, while the quartet of Usman Abass, Lukman Halilu, Deji Bamidele and Anas Muhammed would feature in the defence.
Petit goalkeeper Ebuka Nwokoecha might be in the stick ahead of Amos Benjamin as the duo eye their first start since Udoh Akpan who was on the duty in both legs against Congo Democratic Republic in previous round is not available.
The second leg is due in a fortnight with the overall winner earning a ticket to the eight-team tournament to be held from February 15 to March 1, 2015, in Niger-with the semi-finalists qualifying to represent the continent at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile.
The kick-off is fixed for 3:30pm local time, same with Nigeria.
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke declared: "We have come this far on this assignment and we are going to press for a win in Gabon on Saturday.
"The boys have really worked hard in the past few days and they are quite aware about the importance of this match; and we want to qualify for the championship in Niger and a win this weekend would really help us."
He added: "We have selected 18 good players for this match and we are confident they would deliver the goods. We shall come victorious in Gabon."
A squad of 18 players and officials including coach Siji Lagunju (chief technical officer at the Nigeria Football Federation) rode on bus in the early hours of Friday to neighboring Cotonou to connect a flight to Libreville since there are no direct connections between Nigeria and Gabon due to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) brouhaha.
Accompanying officials informed on getting to Cotonou that the players are in good spirit despite the tight travelling arrangement occasioned by late issuance of visa by the Gabonese embassy in Abuja following an intervention by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday and are ready for the expected tough assignment in Libreville.
Amuneke would expectedly field his battle-hardened lads with the pair of Victor Osimhen and Kehinde Ayinde to lead the attack in a 4-4-2 formation.
Skipper Kelechi Nwakali would roam in the midfield along with Suleiman Abdullahi, Ernest Agenor and Promise Orji, while the quartet of Usman Abass, Lukman Halilu, Deji Bamidele and Anas Muhammed would feature in the defence.
Petit goalkeeper Ebuka Nwokoecha might be in the stick ahead of Amos Benjamin as the duo eye their first start since Udoh Akpan who was on the duty in both legs against Congo Democratic Republic in previous round is not available.
The second leg is due in a fortnight with the overall winner earning a ticket to the eight-team tournament to be held from February 15 to March 1, 2015, in Niger-with the semi-finalists qualifying to represent the continent at the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile.
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