Former coach of Nigeria’s cadet and youth national teams, John Obuh has cautioned the current Flying Eagles’ squad to avoid underrating any of their group opponents at the forthcoming African U20 Cup of Nations.
Sports247 gathered that many Nigerian football fans feel relaxed heading into next weekend’s commencement of healthy rivalry at the competition in Egypt, as a new draw that was conducted after Cote d’Ivoire pulled out from hosting the championship placed the Flying Eagles in the same group with Tunisia, Kenya and Morocco.
However, as Coach Aliyu Zubairu’s side left the shores of Nigeria on Sunday to commence the final phase of their preparations for a week in Egypt, ahead of their first match next Sunday, Obuh reasoned that they should not look at the names of the countries they will come up against but note that any team can win a match once they are ready for it.
Obuh expatiated, “What matters in football is the preparation and improvement of the country. Many of these countries have drastically improved, to the extent that those who did not have big name players before are now doing better. No team must be underrated, and if you play under that kind of situation, then you are wasting your time.”
Obuh, who coached the Golden Eaglets to place second behind Switzerland at the 2009 FIFA U17 World Cup that Nigeria hosted, added that Zubairu should forget about the initial grouping and concentrate on the new one that will be used for the impending contest in The Land Of The Pharaohs.
“They should just continue from the preparations they had for the first grouping and improve on it for the new group they have been placed in. It’s not about the countries you will face in the group, but through determination and their level of preparedness to go out there and win,” Obuh affirmed.
