By Daily Sports on June 3, 2019
The Nigeria’s U-20 team arrived in the city of Lodz yesterday afternoon, ahead of tomorrow’s FIFA U20 World Cup Round of 16 clash with fellow African flagbearers, Senegal.
Players and officials left their Qubus Hotel in Bielsko-Biala after breakfast and arrived in Poland’s third largest city just in time for lunch at the Hotel Ambassador Premium.
Nigeria finished third in Group D and only qualified as one of the best four third-place finishers in the six groups, while Senegal finished at the top of Group A after two wins and a draw.
The seven-time African champions are yet to truly impress in Poland since their opening day 4-0 lashing of Qatar in Tychy, with goals from Maxwell Effiom, Henry Offia, Ayotomiwa Dele-Bashiru and Aliu Salawudeen.
A 0-2 loss to USA and 1-1 draw with Ukraine, both in Bielsko-Biala, meant the Flying Eagles had to sneak into the knockout rounds, but the spirit in camp is high following qualification, and the prospect of squaring up to another African team appears to be engendering unspoken steel determination in the players.
Nicknamed ‘The Promised Land’, Lodz, however does not hold much promise for the African army, as this early knockout round confrontation between Nigeria and Senegal portends, and the fact that South Africa’s Amajita are already back in Johannesburg following group stage elimination, meaning that African risks a depleted presence going forward. The other African team, Mali, will have to battle Argentina at the same stage on Tuesday evening. (The Guardian)
•Photo shows Flying Eagles
Source Daily Sports
Posted June 3, 2019
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