After a dramatic comeback that saw the team edge Hungary 4-2 in their opening fixture of the 019 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will be aiming to book their place in the Round of 16 as the team face Ecuador on Tuesday at the Estádio Olímpic.
The Manu Garba led team will be hoping to emulate the success of the previous Golden Eaglets side that won the trophy in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013, and 2015.
Nigeria started their campaign on a bright note after defeating Hungary 4-2 thanks to goals from midfielder Samson Tijani, who grabbed a brace, one a first-half penalty, while there were further strikes from Usman Ibrahim and striker Oluwatimilehin Adeniyi, to move the team top of Group B ahead of Ecuador that also defeated Australia 2-1.
However, the team will face a difficult test against an Ecuador side that posses pace, power, and trickery, as displayed in their opening fixture against Australia.
Manu Garba’s boys must keep an eye on Ecuador’s Pedro Vite and Erick Plaus, who appears to be two of their dangermen that could spoil Nigeria’s quest of picking the maximum point.
Both Nigeria and Ecuador will be aiming for the maximum point in order to book an early passage to the next round with a game to spare.
South Americans sides are always problematic as we play similar tiki taka and fiki fiaka football.
I see Nigeria narrowly edging out Ecuador and going all the way to the semis.