U-17 World Cup: Onigbinde says Mexico should not intimate Eagle
Lagos – A veteran Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde,on Friday said the inclusion of defending champions, Mexico, in Group F along with Nigeria, should not intimidate the Golden Eaglets in the FIFA U-17 World Cup competition.
Onigbinde, a former Super Eagles Head Coach, said on telephone that the Eaglets’ Coach, Manu Garba, should work harder to top the group, which also has Iraq and Sweden.
“There is nothing sacrosanct about playing against defending champions at the early stage of a competition. Defending champions can be overrun.
“Garba should bother less about opponents’ status but step up his game and go all out to secure the maximum points.
He said that the Eaglets had the needed skills to succeed in the competition but needed to fortify their stamina.
“It is a game of equal number of players on both sides; what makes the difference is the ability to out-smart the other.’’
He advised Garba to concentrate more on stamina building, ahead of the competition scheduled to begin on Oct. 17 at the United Arab Emirates.
“In the buildup for a big competition like the World Cup, the Eaglets will need to step up their physical preparation in anticipation of other teams’ physical approach to the game,’’ he said.
Onigbinde, who won the silver as the coach of the defunct Green Eagles at the 1984 Nations Cup in Cote d’Ivoire, said that Eaglets’ lack of stamina was glaring in the qualifiers.
The coach expressed regrets that the coaches currently handling the national teams, shied away from tapping experiences from veterans.
He said that for the past 20 years he had been analysing football, he had not been invited by any younger coach to watch international matches involving his team.
Nigeria has won the competition three times while Mexico has won twice.
Sweden and Iraq are new comers into the competition.
Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire are the four Africa representatives in the competition.
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