Former Kwara United coach John Obuh has warned the Nigeria U-20 side to take every team serious when the FIFA U-20 World Cup kick-off in Poland on Thursday, Sport247 report.
Obuh, a former Flying Eagles coach believes every nation at this level has improved and warned Paul Aigbogun’s side not to underrate any team.
“I don’t want them to see any of the countries as non-footballing nations but I just want them to be careful because football at this level (U20) is won from the first game.
“Once you are able to tidy up your first game, and [then] your second game, you should have at least been able to qualify from your group to the second stage.”
Obuh also reflected on the Flying Eagles opponents in the group stage.
“The USA of my time, when I used to play them, I beat them. Anyhow, as far as I am concerned, there has been a big improvement in the United States Youth soccer so we should not look at them as a non-footballing nation.
“Qatar is the same thing. Having ceded the World Cup [2022] to them, they are preparing to meet the standards that are expected of them. I am very sure that they would be coming out very strong too.”
However, the FIFA U-17 silver medalist expects the Flying Eagles to progress to the next stage of the competition.
“I don’t expect anything short of Nigeria qualifying for the next stage,” concluded Obuh.
Nigeria will start their FIFA U20 World Cup campaign on May 24 against Group D foes Qatar before coming up against the USA and Ukraine.
