Obuh, Green Lead Team In Special Prayer Session
FOOTBALL:
The Flying Eagles arrived Santiago de Cali around 2pm yesterday after a three and half hour bus ride to begin preparation for France,their quarter-final foes on Sunday in the on-going FIFA U-20 World Cup here in Colombia.
The team,led by chief coach,John Obuh and Nigeria Football Federation technical committee head,Barrister Chris Greene had a prayer session inside the Catholic Church Chapel at their hotel Montenegro.The session,conducted by Obuh and Greene started with loud songs of praises to God who has guided the team to this stage of the competition.Prayers were also offered by Obuh,Greene and the team's first assistant coach,Shina Abimbola.
Meanwhile the Flying Eagles say they have turned their focus to European champions,France after dismissing the Young Lions of England in the round of 16 clash in Armenia.
Coach Obuh is optimistic his boys have learnt from the tactical indiscipline that saw them laboured to a slim 1-0 win over England and are battle ready to take on the French.
Obuh told Complete Sports he knows how the French play and has devised a strategy to ensure the Flying Eagles soar high again.
''Yes, we've watched a couple of their games. They have played well in this World Cup. We also know that they are European champions. I think they have some good players, especially in the attack. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we contend them well durng the match, and to be able to move forward which is advancing into the semi-finals'',he told Complete Sports when the team landed in Cali adding that he and the rest of the technical crew have lifted the team's morale after that unispiring display against England.
''Since the last game against England, we have been making sure that the spirit of the players is quite high in readiness of the match against France''.
Flying Eagles player,Gideon Gambo is also optimistic the French will fall in Cali come Sunday.
''We will beat France and I hope Portugal beat Argentina so that we could clash again and avenge the loss they inflicted on us in Panama City'',he said.
Defender,Emmanuel Anyanwu says the team is focus on winning the trophy to become the secon African country to do so and feels France won't be the team to end that dream.
''We are fired up the more with every victory here.The general expectation is that we go home with the cup. We are on course, we have shown that we are equal to the task, but it's not getting into our heads. We know there is still a lot of hardwork and total commitment to put into the next matches''.
Another defender,Ganiu Ogungbe shares in Anyanwu's sentiments adding that the team is fired on by the fact that they have millions of Nigerians backing and praying for them.
''The hard fight will definitely go on as far as we are concerned.We don't want to disappoint millions of Nigerians out there'',he said adding that President Goodluck Jonathan's pep talk on the morning of the match actually was the tonic that invigorated them.
Terna Suswam,another defender expects the Flying Eagles to perform better than they did against England when they play France on Sunday.
'' It was a very tough game but we showed great character to hang on to our goal to beat a good England team. This was the minimum we could do and so we expect to do a lot better in the quarterfinal against a more offensive minded France in Cali on Sunday''.
FOOTBALL:
The Flying Eagles arrived Santiago de Cali around 2pm yesterday after a three and half hour bus ride to begin preparation for France,their quarter-final foes on Sunday in the on-going FIFA U-20 World Cup here in Colombia.
The team,led by chief coach,John Obuh and Nigeria Football Federation technical committee head,Barrister Chris Greene had a prayer session inside the Catholic Church Chapel at their hotel Montenegro.The session,conducted by Obuh and Greene started with loud songs of praises to God who has guided the team to this stage of the competition.Prayers were also offered by Obuh,Greene and the team's first assistant coach,Shina Abimbola.
Meanwhile the Flying Eagles say they have turned their focus to European champions,France after dismissing the Young Lions of England in the round of 16 clash in Armenia.
Coach Obuh is optimistic his boys have learnt from the tactical indiscipline that saw them laboured to a slim 1-0 win over England and are battle ready to take on the French.
Obuh told Complete Sports he knows how the French play and has devised a strategy to ensure the Flying Eagles soar high again.
''Yes, we've watched a couple of their games. They have played well in this World Cup. We also know that they are European champions. I think they have some good players, especially in the attack. We are doing everything possible to ensure that we contend them well durng the match, and to be able to move forward which is advancing into the semi-finals'',he told Complete Sports when the team landed in Cali adding that he and the rest of the technical crew have lifted the team's morale after that unispiring display against England.
''Since the last game against England, we have been making sure that the spirit of the players is quite high in readiness of the match against France''.
Flying Eagles player,Gideon Gambo is also optimistic the French will fall in Cali come Sunday.
''We will beat France and I hope Portugal beat Argentina so that we could clash again and avenge the loss they inflicted on us in Panama City'',he said.
Defender,Emmanuel Anyanwu says the team is focus on winning the trophy to become the secon African country to do so and feels France won't be the team to end that dream.
''We are fired up the more with every victory here.The general expectation is that we go home with the cup. We are on course, we have shown that we are equal to the task, but it's not getting into our heads. We know there is still a lot of hardwork and total commitment to put into the next matches''.
Another defender,Ganiu Ogungbe shares in Anyanwu's sentiments adding that the team is fired on by the fact that they have millions of Nigerians backing and praying for them.
''The hard fight will definitely go on as far as we are concerned.We don't want to disappoint millions of Nigerians out there'',he said adding that President Goodluck Jonathan's pep talk on the morning of the match actually was the tonic that invigorated them.
Terna Suswam,another defender expects the Flying Eagles to perform better than they did against England when they play France on Sunday.
'' It was a very tough game but we showed great character to hang on to our goal to beat a good England team. This was the minimum we could do and so we expect to do a lot better in the quarterfinal against a more offensive minded France in Cali on Sunday''.
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