BY Victor Akhidenor
Golden Eaglets coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, has admitted their FIFA U-17 World Cup round of 16 opponent, Australia, would be a hard nut to crack at the Estadio Sausalito in Vina Del Mar on Wednesday.
The Aussies advanced from the tournament’s supposed group of death (Group D) where they lost 4-1 to Germany drew goalless with Mexico and edged Argentina 2-1.
Amunuke has predicted a tough match for the defending champions.
“We have been looking forward to the team we are going to play and today (Sunday), we realized it would be Australia. At this stage, everybody that has qualified must be respected,” Amuneke sasid.
“They (Australia) are a very good side because we saw their match against Argentina; they are a very good side and we have to respect them.”
While Nigeria have not lost a second round match in the championship’s history, Australia were beaten 4-0 by Uzbekistan in their last Round of 16 appearance at Mexico 2011.
Yet, Amuneke insisted the Golden Eaglets must be at their best as Chile 2015 enters the knockout stages.
“We have to keep working hard and prepare our players physically and psychologically for the match (against Australia) especially after losing our last group match to Croatia. We have to let the players realise that the stage we are in now is crucial and it needs high level of concentration from them.
“It is a welcome development (Eaglets versus Australia) and before Wednesday, we would evaluate our players and see their state of mind but hopefully, all of them would be ready to play on Wednesday,” Amuneke assured.
Meanwhile, the Eaglets have been training in Vina del Mar since arriving there on Saturday ahead of the match against the Aussies.
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