Coach Emmanuel Amuneke U-20 defeats Coach Samson Siasia U-23 boys 4-3 in a friendly match

Nigeria's U23 national team suffered a 4-3 defeat against their U20 counterparts in Saturday’s friendly match played at the National Stadium, Abuja.

Orji Okonkwo's brace plus Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Oshimen strikes helped Emmanuel Amuneke's lads overcome the Olympics team despite strikes from Godwin Saviour, Etebo Oghenekaro and Shehu Abdullahi.

Orji Okonkwo handed the Flying Eagles side the lead in the 10th minutes before Saviour leveled up in the 27th minute.

Okonkwo recovered the lead for the U20 side nine minutes later and Chukwueze made it 3-1 five minutes to half time break.

In the second half, Oghenekaro reduced the scoreline to 3-2 in the 56th minute, but Oshimen restored Flying Eagles two goals lead for 4-2 in the 72nd minute with Abdullahi getting the third goal for his team.

The Nigeria U23 team had lost 2-1 to the same team in a friendly played in April.

The Dream Team Vi are expected to depart  for Atlanta, USA to continue preparations for the men’s football tournament of this year’s Olympics on July 2, while the Flying Eagles step up preparations for their Afcon U20 qualifier against Sudan.

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Burundi arrives Nigeria ahead of clash with Flying eagle

Flying Eagles' opponents in Saturday's CAF U-20 AFCON qualifier, Burundi arrived in Calabar at 2pm Thursday for their Second Leg, Second Round match billed to hold at the U.J Esuene Stadium.

Media Officer of the Nigerian team, Wale Ajayi who disclosed this to Completesportsnigeria.com said the visitors were immediately lodged at Tinapa Resort, same hotel the Flying Eagles are also camped.

Nigeria won the First Leg in Burundi 1-0. The winner will qualify for the third and  final round of the qualifying series for a place at the 20th CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted by Zambia from February 26  to March 12, 2017.

Flying Eagles coach, Emmanuel Amuneke who led the team to Burundi a fortnight ago where they defeated the Burundians 1-0 in the first leg match said his boys needed to work really hard to be able to win the Saturday's second leg match.

"We won the first leg in Burundi but the return leg will be more difficult and we really need to work hard without underrating our opponents. But what I can assure is that we will do our best to win the match," Amuneke said.

The Nigeria U-20s played a 1-1 draw with Unicem Rovers in their buildup game on Wednesday.

 Amuneke has also assured that the players have learnt from the mistakes they made in the friendly match.

The match will be played at 4pm on Saturday

ALL THE SECOND LEG, SECOND ROUND FIXTURES

Friday, 10 June 2016

Egypt vs Rwanda (1-0)

 Saturday, 11 June 2016

Senegal vs Tunisia (2-1)

Nigeria vs Burundi (1-0)

Gabon vs Angola (0-3)

South Africa vs Namibia (0-0)

Sunday, 12 June 2016

Ghana vs Ethiopia (1-2)

Morocco vs Gambia (0-1)

Guinea vs Conakry (2-1)

Congo vs Burkina Faso (1-1)

Mali vs Mauritania (3-0)

Lesotho vs Mozambique (1-1)

Cameroon vs Zimbabwe (0-0)

Credit:completesportsnigeria.com

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Chukwudi Agor goal makes the difference as Nigeria beats Burundi 1-0

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria defeated their Burundi counterparts 1-0 to make the return leg in Calabar a lot easier. The coach Emmanuel Amuneke tutored side scored the only goal of the match in the 64th minute through former Golden Eaglets midfielder Chukwudi Agor.

The reigning African champions played against ‘grown men’ and had to rely on skill and technical superiority to keep the hosts in check.
Speaking After the match,coach Emmanuel Amuneke said he is happy his boys prove their mettle against the Burundians.

"I am happy we won against them (Burundi). It goes a long way to show we are improving game by game and also prove the fact that my boys are not under any form of pressure.

Both Nigeria and Burundi did not kick a ball in the first round, with reigning African champions Nigeria drawn bye while Burundi’s opponents, DR Congo, withdrew from the race. 

The return leg is billed to hold at the U. J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar on Saturday, June 11. With the winner on aggregate qualifying for the final round of the qualifiers for the 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations to be held in Zambia.  

The Flying Eagles delegation are expected back in the country on Monday

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We are in Burundi to win - Flying Eagles captain Nwakali says

Nigeria U20 skipper Kelechi Nwakali has said his team hope to win in Burundi when both teams clash in an U20 AFCON first leg qualifier this afternoon.  

It is an important game for us and he hope to win so as to make our qualification to the next round easier,” he said.  

“We have been working hard these past weeks and we are confident we are going to win in Burundi.”  

On the friendly matches the team won  Nwakali said;  “Those games were just friendly games and we wouldn't be thinking too much about them because we know the Burundi match is the most important,” .

Nwakali, who has agreed a professional contract with English club Arsenal, will lead the Nigerian side out in their first official game since graduating from the U17’s and   The Flying Eagles arrived Bujumbura, the Burundian capital on Wednesday ahead of the game today. 

The Flying Eagles rounded off their training on Friday and are now raring to go against the Burundi team which many say are a tricky side.    

Both Nigeria and Burundi did not kick a ball in the first round, with reigning African champions Nigeria drawn bye while Burundi’s opponents, DR Congo, withdrew from the race.    

The winner on aggregate will qualify for the final round of qualifying for the 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations to be held in Zambia.  

The Kick-off time for the match is 2pm Nigerian time at the artificial turf of Prince Louis Rwagasore Stadium.
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