As Nigeria’s Flying Eagles get prepared for next month’s FIFA U20 World Cup in Argentina, former Super Eagles midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju, has urged the national U20 men’s team to get set for the task ahead saying Coach Ladan Bosso and his boys shouldn’t just concentrate their attention on Brazil but other countries where the Flying Eagles have been grouped.
FIFA had on Friday during the group stage draw in Zurich had put Nigeria in group D alongside Brazil, Italy, and debutant Dominican Republic.
Tribune Sports recall that Nigeria has not defeated Brazil at the U20 World Cup in five times the two countries have met. The best result against the South American football powerhouse was a 0-0 scoreline at the 2005 edition in The Netherlands. Brazil triumphed 3-0 over Nigeria in 1983, 2-0 in 1985, 4-0 in 1987, and 4-2 in 2015.
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But according to Adepoju, all the boys need to do is to take each match after the other and not just fix their attention on Brazil but other teams in the group.
“We should make sure our preparation is topnotch and we should take each match as it comes. This is not just by mouth but we should work towards victory. We can qualify for the next round but it is not an easy group because Brazil are always a tough opponent. We should prepare for Italy and the Dominican Republic too and not just Brazil.”
When asked if he sees the team going far like the Saudi 89 team which he was part of some years back, the former Real Sociedad and Racing Santander of Spain midfielder said “Those are different moments and things have changed over the years. So we can’t be comparing teams now. All they need to do is to see the strength of each team in the group.
“The Coach and his boys should be ready for the task ahead. They should make sure they try and work very hard,” Adepoju fondly referred to as ‘Headmaster’by his admirers told Tribune Sports.
