Head Coach of the Flying Eagles, Ladan Bosso, insisted yesterday that his wards will not be intimidated by the physicality of the six-time champions Argentina and their capacity crowd expected at the U20 World Cup second round fixture venue in San Juan tonight.
The indigenes of the Land of Pampasbarnstormed through their group stage, winning all their three matches against Uzbekistan, Guatemala and New Zealand, scoring 10 goals and conceding only one. They are already among the favourites for the title, by both pedigree and current form.
Despite winning their first two matches, including beating early ravemakers Italy in commanding fashion, the Flying Eagles lost to Brazil 2-0 in La Plata on Saturday and some bookmakers think they stand no chance against the pumped-up home team.
Bosso said yesterday as his boys prepared for their official training session at match time (6pm Argentine time and 10pm Nigeria) that his Africa Cup of Nations bronze medallists will be ready to give as much as they receive in Wednesday’s encounter.
“This is the World Cup and it is wrong to under-rate any team. We won two of our three matches and had the same number of points in our group as Brazil and Italy. We are no pushovers in this campaign.
“It is going to be an interesting game. We want the quarter-final ticket and the Argentines also want the quarter-final ticket. We will go in there and dig our feet into the ground.”
ALL THE Q’FINAL FIXTURES
Brazil v Tunisia
USA v New Zealand
Uzbekistan v Israel
Colombia v Slovakia
Argentina v Nigeria
England v. Italy
Gambia v Uruguay
Ecuador v. S’Korea
