As the world football governing body sets to hold the Draw Ceremony for this year’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup finals at the Art Centre 660 in Santiago de Chile on Thursday, August 6, 2015, chief coach of the defending champions, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria, Emmanuel Amuneke, has said the team is not afraid of any opponents.
He said: “We are not worrying ourselves with the countries that would be in our group; all we are focusing on now is how to raise a solid team, good enough to compete very well and retain the trophy.
“We are all used to draw ceremonies and so we don’t want to stress ourselves on that, rather on how to prepare very well for the competition and excel.”
According to the programme of the event, which will formally bring the world’s attention to the competition that holds in eight Chilean cities from October 17 to November 8, the draws will be followed by the Official Draw Banquet, at the Grand Hyatt Santiago, the same day.
The Golden Eaglets team has the opportunity to defend the crown it won with so much applause in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2013, after qualifying for this year’s finals. A fourth place finish at the African U-17 Championship in Niamey, Niger Republic, last February is what the Eaglets needed to land Chile.
Africa will be represented by Nigeria, Mali, Guinea and South Africa, while Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, England and Croatia will fly Europe’s flag.
New Zealand will represent Oceania; USA, Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica will fly the flag of North and Central America, and South America sends Ecuador, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, alongside hosts Chile.
North Korea, Australia, Syria and Korea Republic will fly Asia’s flag.
The tournament’s 52 matches will be played across Santiago de Chile, Puerto Montt, Chillan, Concepcion, Talca, La Serena, Coquimbo and Vina del Mar.
Nigeria has triumphed at the cadet World Cup on four occasions – 1985, 1993, 2007 and 2013.
Chile, currently hosting the Copa America finals, hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1962, and has also hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup (1987) and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (2008).
According to Amuneke, the technical crew of the team will continue the search for more talented stars to beef up the team ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
The 1994 African Footballer of the Year and former Super Eagles left winger stressed that all hands would be deck to ensure that the team has a successful outing at the World Cup in Chile.
