President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju Pinnick has made a revelation that he was under immense pressure to sack the current Golden Eaglets Coach Emmanuel Amuneke.
Amuneke and his team to the African championships held in Niger earlier in the year did not meet the expectations of many Nigerians and Pinnick revealed that he stuck to his gun to retain the former Barcelona star as the U-17 coach.
“I’m extremely happy for Emmanuel Amuneke because he, along with other officials, have demonstrated that they are good fathers to you all and I’m glad that I was able to withstand the pressure to sack him when the team failed to win the African Championship trophy in Niger Republic.
“Here in Chile, Emmanuel has shamed all the doubting Thomases but I don’t want you to forget that the most important match is against Mali on Sunday,” he said.
This is a life-time opportunity for you to write your names in gold and you know how appreciative our country can be to winners and heroes. Sunday is the day to write your names into the history books,” Pinnick noted.
The Eaglets finished fourth at the 11th African U-17 Championship in Niger Republic where Mali emerged as champions, while the duo of South Africa and Guinea also finished ahead of the Amuneke-tutored side.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets in the early hours of Friday dumped baby El Tri of Mexico 4-2 at the Estadio Municipal Ester Roa, Concepcion, to set up the second All-African U-17 World Cup final against Mali tomorrow in Vina Del Mar.
It will be recalled that Nigeria’s Eaglets also featured in the first all-African final in 1993 in Japan when it pipped Ghana’s Black Starlets 2-1.
Interestingly, Nigeria’s striker Victor Osimhen may have sealed the adidas Golden Boot award with another strike against the Mexicans to take his goal haul to nine.
The feat also equalled the all-time goal record in the competition jointly held by (French Florent Sinama Pongolle and Ivorian Souleymane Coulibaly) when he netted his ninth goal of the tournament from the spot.
The Golden Eaglets also beat the baby El Tri twice at the last tournament in UAE two years ago – winning a group game 6-1 before they stopped them 3-0 in the final.
Mexico deservedly led 1-0 through Kevin Magana’s strike after a good work from the right wing by Lara, who beat Udochukwu Anamudu.
Golden Eaglets captain, Kelechi Nwakali drew parity with a superbly taken 25-yard free kick in the 35th minute.
Nigeria then took the lead for the first time in the game in the 43rd with a 20-yard cracker from Orji Okonkwo, who released a rocket shot after he cut in from the left wing.
However, Mexico made it 2-2 through a magical solo goal by Diego Cortes.
Oshinachi Ebere got on the scoreboard in the 67th minute, when his low shot from inside the box was helped home by the Mexico shot stopper
Powered by Suchmaschinenoptimierung
