THE NATION——The Estadio Sausalito in Vina del Mar will come alive again today when Nigeria and Brazil for the first time in the history of the global cadet championship clash for a semi- final ticket at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup Chile 2015.
There is a healthy rivalry between both countries with Nigeria slightly ahead of Brazil with four titles as against three under the belt of the South Americans and Golden Eaglets’ Head coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has admitted that it will be a battle royale when the two most accomplished teams at this level ‘meet.’ “
Our match against Brazil on Sunday is not a cup final but I agree with you that it is not going to be an easy match either,” Amuneke told thenff.com.“
This is one more game towards our objectives ; the Brazilian team is very good and over a month ago, we beat them 2-1 at the Suwon U-17 Youth International Tournament in South Korea.
“We have seen the stuff they are made of but it would be a totally different ball game on Sunday because this is a World Cup match and not a friendly match or a pre-World Cup tournament .
“ But I’m hopeful, we are going to put up a good fight against them on Sunday,” Amuneke said.
Nigeria and Brazil have seemingly had an identical route to the quarter final stage after both lost once at the Estadio Francisco Sanchez Rumoroso in Coquimbo at the group phase.
Whereas Brazil lost 1-0 to South Korea in their first opening match in Group B, the Golden Eaglets lost 2-1 to Croatia in their last Group A match and Amuneke further explained that there won’t be margin for errors on Sunday.
He said: “ On Sunday, both teams would be at their best because we have both seen ourselves in Korea before now ; and I expect this to be a difficult match for both teams but what would count is the mentality of both teams on Sunday,” he said .
“ We don’t build our team on jokers rather, we want to play as a team because every player brought here is equal to the task but we are going to see how we can get better on Sunday.”
