TheCable

The U-17 national team, the Golden Eaglets, will play Korea Republic in their first match at the four-nation Suwon international tournament on Wednesday.

Hosts Korea Republic would be joined by Brazil, Croatia and Nigeria, and the teams will play one other in a round-robin basis between September 2 and 6 to determine the tournament winners.

The Golden Eaglets would open their account against the Baby Taegu Warriors on September 2 and would complete their schedule against Brazil and Croatia on September 4 and 6 respectively.

The tournament is a good test run for the four teams heading to the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015, where incidentally, Nigeria and Croatia are drawn together along with Chile and USA in Group A.

Brazil and South Korea are also in the same Group B along with Guinea and England.

Meanwhile, Golden Eaglets’ squad of 18 players and officials are expected to leave their closed- camping site in Katsina on Saturday en route to Lagos through Abuja where they are expected to fly out for the tournament, and are expected in Suwon on Monday, August 31. They are due back in Nigeria on September 8.

Ahead of their trip to Suwon, the Golden Eaglets continued their preparation for the tournament with a 4-1 win against Katsina state football club owners’ selected team at the Karkanda Stadium in Katsina on Thursday.

“This was a very difficult match and a good test again for our team,” Golden Eaglets’ assistant coach, Kabiru Baleria, said.

“The most important thing is that the boys are showing what they are learning in training.”

GOLDEN EAGLETS’ SUWON TOURNAMENT FIXTURES

September 2: Nigeria v Korea, Kick off – 20:00

September 4: Nigeria v Brazil, Kick off – 17:30

September 6: Nigeria v Croatia, Kick off – 20:00