Flying Eagles arrive Dakar ahead of 19th AYC

Lagos – The national U-20 team, Flying Eagles, have arrived in Dakar, capital of Senegal in the early hours of Thursday for the 19th African Youth Championship. The championship will hold from March 8 to March 22. A statement by Ademola Olajire, Assistant Director, Media, of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), said the team arrived in Dakar in the early hours of Thursday. “A contingent of 21 players and 10 officials touched down at the Dakar International Airport at 3a.m. Senegal time and were immediately ferried to the Alafifa Hotel. “The team will move into Hotel Ngor Diarama, their official accommodation on Friday,’’ the statement said. “The six-time champions will lock horns with hosts Senegal in the opening match of the tournament at the Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar on Sunday evening. “Nigeria will also play Congo-Brazzaville on March 11 and Cote d’Ivoire on March 14 in their Group A encounters,’’ Olajire said. The statement gave the list of the players in the squad as Goalkeepers Joshua Enaholo, Sunday Alampasu and Olorunleke Ojo. The defenders are Musa Muhamed, Zaharadeen Bello, Izuchukwu Omego, Mustapha Abdullahi, Samuel Okon and Abdulganiyu Saheed. The midfield consists of Ifeanyi Matthew, Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, Akinjide Idowu, Obinna Nwobodo, Bernard Bulbwa and Abdullahi Alfa. The strikers are Taiwo Awoniyi, Christian Pyagbara, Abdullahi Ibrahim Alhassan ‘Muazam’, Usman Hassan, Chidera Ezeh and Wasiu Jimoh, while Manu Garba is the head of the technical crew. Ghana, Mali, South Africa and Zambia are in Group B. Group B matches will hold at the Stade Caroline Faye in M’Bour, 50 kilometers outside Dakar. The four semi-finalists in the tournament will automatically qualify for the FIFA World U-20 Championship to be staged in New Zealand from May 30 to June 20. Ghana remains the only African country to win the World U-20 Championship when it was held in Egypt in 2009. (NAN)

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