THE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has praised the Golden Eaglets despite finishing third at the 2015 Suwon Continental Cup International Youth (U-17) Football Tournament in Korea. The Emmanuel Amuneke-led side that lost in a 3-2 dramatic manner to Croatia in their last game had earlier posted a 1-1 draw against Korea and earned a 2-1 win against eventual winners, Brazil.
Addressing the Golden Eaglets after the ill-fated loss to Croatia, NFF board member, Alhaji Ahmad Kawu and Deputy General Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme gave kudos to the team for their overall
performance and good conduct in Suwon.
“You have done well despite the fact that you lost to Croatia today in a dramatic way because but over the three matches everybody saw you are a good side and we are confident you would get better before the
World Cup in Chile," said Kawu who gifted the Eaglets 500 US Dollars. He added: "This is just my little appreciation to you and I want to commend the technical crew for a good job. I believe this team will
get better before we get to Chile."
Similarly, Ikpeme said the Golden Eaglets looked promising. Only six players of the 21 that earned the FIFA U-17 World Cup Chile 2015 ticket at the African U-17 Championship were in Suwon and Ikpeme said the tournament was a good platform to expose the new lads.
“I was in touch with the NFF president, Mr. Amaju Pinnick and he was happy that you have gained exposure and experience by coming for this tournament," Ikpeme said. "You have done well but the ultimate gain of this competition was the exposure; we want you to block the loss to Croatia
from your psyche and refocus your attention to Chile."
ALL THE RESULTS
Sept 2nd: Korea 1-1 Nigeria; Brazil 2-1 Croatia
Sept 4th: Nigeria 2-1 Brazil; Korea 2-2 Croatia
Sept 6th: Brazil 2-0 Korea; Nigeria 2-3 Croatia
Culled from The NFF
