Almost all the impact
players for the Golden Eaglets in Saturday night’s 4-2 defeat of Hungary in the
opening match of the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament in Brazil are products
of the annual Zenith Bank/NFF Future Eagles Championships, including the goal
scorers.
The competition, sponsored
by NFF’s partner, Zenith Bank Plc, was
launched in 2016 and has been widely
lauded for its vision, with both U-13 and U-15 competitions running
side-by-side right from the states to the zones and then to the national finals.Samson Tijani, captain of the team and playmaker, who netted two goals (Nigeria’s first and last goals), and was named Man Of The Match, is a product of the competition, as well as defender Usman Ibrahim, whose powerful header off a corner kick restored parity after several attempts by Nigeria had been foiled.
Right back Oluwatimilehin
Adeniyi, whose powerful header off a cross by another substitute Ibraheem
Jabaar put Nigeria ahead for the first time in the game (3-2), also emerged
from the Zenith Bank/NFF Future Eagles competition. He was severely injured
before the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania in April, and could not make
the trip.
Also of note is Akinkunmi
Ayobami Amoo, whose entry into the game in the second half brought more vigour
into the Nigerian attack. Amoo is a product of the Zenith Bank/NFF Future
Eagles Championship, alongside forward Olakunle Olusegun, who also fought like
a Trojan in Saturday’s encounter.
Another player who is a
product of the Future Eagles Championship and is with the Eaglets in Brazil is
Divine Nwachukwu, but he did not taste action against the Hungarians.
The Zenith Bank/NFF Future
Eagles Championship also supplies the players to the U-15 National Boys’ team,
which finished as runner-up at a tournament in Japan few months ago. In fact,
Usman Ibrahim, who netted the equalizer against Hungary before further goals by
Adeniyi and Tijani, was in the squad that went to Japan.
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