Amuneke: Eaglets here to win

Nigeria's Under-17, the Golden Eaglets would be going for nothing but
victory when they face the Junior Leopards of Congo Democratic
Republic in an African U-17 Championship on Saturday in Kinshasa.
This much  was said by the team's Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke(MON)
after the team's final training  session on Friday  ahead  of the
match  fixed for 3:30pm local time( 3:30pm Nigerian time) at  the Tata
Raphael Stadium.
" We are here to win and it is as simple as that  but we know  that
the game  would not be as simple as that,"  said  Amuneke who scored
match-winning goals  when Nigeria won the 1994 African Cup of Nations
and   Atlanta'96 Olympic Soccer  Gold medal."We have constantly told
the boys that all what we had done in the past are now in the past and
the moment of serious business is here for us."
Keen followers of the team could readily predict the team's line up
after remarkably  playing 21 matches undefeated in regulation time
(bar the penalty shoot-out loss to Benin at the WAFU B Tournament in
Togo) fuelling suspicion that the  1994 African Footballer of the Year
might stick with his reliable against Congo DR.
"The only difference between Saturday's match and the ones we had
played in the past is just the circumstance because this is one of the
qualifiers for Niger," he explained. "So it is important for us to win
irrespective of what Congo would throw at us because we know Kinshasa
is a difficult place to win matches."
Typically, Amuneke refrained from picking any particular player as the
joker for the match saying that all the 18 players on the trip are
physically and psychologically ready for what is regarded within the
rank of the team as 'The Battle of Kinshasa.'
"Joker? I don't have any joker for the match," he bluntly said. "What
we have is a team with winning mentality and we have brought players
we believe would do the job for us."
 
Congo DR drags Eaglets to Tata Raphael
...CAF picks Cameroonian officials
With the works still ongoing at their main stadium, the artificial
surface of Tata Raphael stadium in Kinshasa will host Golden Eaglets
and Congo Democratic Republic's much anticipated 2015 Under-17 African
Championship qualifier on Saturday.
 The match was earlier scheduled for the TP Mazembe Stadium in
Lubumbashi but the Federation of Congolese Football Association
(FECOFA) only informed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) about the
changes few days before the Golden Eaglets' departure. The Tata
Raphael Stadium is the same venue local side; AS Vita Club humbled
Kano Pillars 3-1 in an African Champions League fixture in February.
Meanwhile, the continental soccer ruling body, CAF, has picked
officials from Cameroon to handle the second round - first leg fixture
expected to be watched by a capacity crowd.
The centre referee would be 31-year-old Antoine Max Depadoux Effa
Essouma who became an international referee in 2013 with his
compatriots, 40-year-old Thierry Bruno Tocke and 36-year-old Hamadou
Sadou serving as first and second assistants respectively. The fourth
official is 36-year-old Mandeng Bakalay Cosmas Jerome while Michel
Gasingwa from Rwanda would serve as Match Commissioner.
Dignitaries expected   to watch the match include Nigeria's Ambassador
to the Congo DR, Dr. Grant Ehiobuche, Governor of Kinshasa City, Mayor
of Kalamu Community, DR Congo's Minister of Youth Matters and sports
as well as executive members of FECOFA.
In the meantime, Ambassador Ehiobuche has equivocally told the Golden
Eaglets to go out for victory against the home team: "I would be there
with you and that means, President Goodluck Jonathan (GCFR) is also
with you in spirit," he said at the team's lunch time on Friday.
"Please, grant us victory against Congo DR because I was so ashamed
when our team, Kano Pillars was beaten here the last time. You are our
future hope and I want you to prove that by beaten Congo DR on
Saturday, "he added.
 
 
 Nwakali, Osimhen sure of crushing Congo DR
Golden Eaglets' captain, Kelechi Nwakali and gangling striker, Victor
Osimhen is confident of opening Nigeria's 2015 African Championship
account on a winning note on Saturday.
Osimhen is undoubtedly Golden Eaglets' inform striker based on recent
performance after he scored a brace in the team's 4-2 win against
Egypt in Cairo early this month. He is also one of the team's top
scorers -jointly in second position with Suleiman Abdullahi on six
goals and behind Kehinde Ayinde on seven.
"My focus now is on the match against Congo (Democratic Republic) and
that has always been my style days before an important game," yelled
Victor. "The good thing is that we have good attacking force in this
team and my prayer is that I should be one of our goal scorers against
Congo DR."
The Golden Eaglets have scored an average of three goals per match
after amassing an impressive 63 goals in 21 matches under the spell of
Coach Emmanuel Amuneke (MON).
Yet Nwakali, who is not far away on the team's top scorers' list with
four goals including an unforgettable 'intercontinental ballistic
missile' in the 2-1 win against Abuja College of Football in April, is
backing Osimhen to be amongst the goals against the Junior Leopards.
"If there is any player I'm sure of scoring a goal at least against
Congo DR, it is Victor because he has improved tremendously," said
Nwakali. "One other thing I'm also sure about of this match is that we
are going to win by the special grace of God."
He added that anybody fielded against Congo DR on Saturday would do
more than enough to ensure the success of the team insisting that the
present Golden Eaglets  are as gifted as their predecessors that won
the FIFA Under-17 World Cup last year.