Golden Eaglets head coach Nduka Ugbade has stated that player development is at core of Nigeria’s mission at the 2023 TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Algeria.
The Golden Eaglets are paired in Group B alongside South Africa, Morocco and Zambia and will begin their campaign against the latter in Constantine on Sunday.
Nigeria are two-time champions of the U-17 AFCON and Ugbade acknowledges opposition teams are ready to defeat his team which is why he stressed on the need for his players to be very disciplined during the tournament.
“We are under pressure. We know that every team wants to beat Nigeria. I am not so much interested in the trophy as in the development of the players, and the beauty of the game,” Ugbade said ahead of the Zambia clash.
“These are young players. You can never say after all your preparations what comes next because you are playing technically, you are also playing tactically and also have to consider the psychological discipline of the players. We want the players to be disciplined to go for 90 minutes to emerge victorious.
“To achieve this, we want to do everything humanly possible within the context of our strength and capacity to see that every team that comes against us is subdued.”
Work continues????
The Golden Eaglets getting set for the group stage opener against ????????Zambia on Sunday as they seek to qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup.
The boys did some shooting and passing drills earlier today in training.#SoarGoldenEaglets #AFCONU17 pic.twitter.com/u1yiOZeEfL
— The NFF ???????? (@thenff) April 28, 2023
Team captain, Precious Williams, is also not getting carried by the favourites tag attached to Nigeria but rather preferred to respect all the opponents in the group.
“We respect all the teams in the group. We are here to develop our football. We cannot say that we are the favourites because we are yet to play any team in the group,” Williams stated.
“Our focus is to play according to the instructions of our coaches. We will defend and attack as a team and help one another to achieve a good result against Zambia.”
The Golden Eagles won the U-17 AFCON last in 2007 after their maiden triumph in 2001. Their last outing in 2019 ended in a fourth place finish where they lost to Angola in the bronze medal match.
