Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has promised his team will beat Brazil in their U-20 World Cup clash in New Zealand.
The African champions have yet to beat
the South Americans at this level with their best result achieved 10
years ago when they drew goalless on their way to reaching their second
U20 World Cup final in Holland.
The Flying Eagles take on the Samba stars on June 1 in New Plymouth to kick start their 2015 campaign.
Manu said he will be going for broke against the five-time world champions.
“I respect all the teams who have
qualified for this championship and that includes Brazil, who have been
good at this level, but believe you me, Brazil is Brazil and Nigeria is
Nigeria,” he told Africanfootball.com.
“Brazil have won the World Cup several times, but Nigeria have got silver twice and a bronze.
“At U-17 level, we are rated number one
in the world. And half of the team to New Zealand are from the last U-17
team. We are a united team who have conquered the world at U-17 level
and we have now been joined by other players who are more technically
balanced than some of them from the U-17s. So, I believe we are ready to
take on any team.
“But I also know that the first match in
any tournament is the most important and so we will do all we can to
pick up the maximum three points against Brazil, which will go a long
way to motivate the team in subsequent matches.
“I could recall Mexico came to last U-17
World Cup as defending champions and they had not lost a match for two
years. But against a Nigerian side, who did not play a test game for a
month, we defeated them 6-1.
“This is not to say we will be overconfident. We are confident in ourselves to beat Brazil in our opening game.”
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