Latest world champions, the Golden
Eaglets, returned to the country on Wednesday after emerging winners of
the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
The coach Emmanuel Amuneke-led team
arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja aboard an
Emirates Airline flight from Dubai. The team had stayed the night in
Dubai on Tuesday after flying from Santiago the previous day.
The entire airport zone became rowdy as
excited fans struggled to get closer to the players the moment their
arrival was announced.
The officials who received the team were
the Director General of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports,
Mallam Alhassan Yakmut; Nigeria Football Federation First
Vice-President, Mr. Seyi Akinwunmi; NFF second Vice-President, Mr. Shehu
Dikko and some other directors of the Federal Ministry of Youth and
Sports.
Yakmut who spoke to the team said, “The
entire nation is proud of you. You have done a great thing to bring
honour to this country, and President Muhammadu Buhari is very
delighted. I also wish to convey to you the joy of the new Honourable
Minister of Youth and Sports.”
A cultural troupe entertained the crowd
just outside the arrival hall and as team captain Kelechi Nwakali held
the trophy aloft for photographs with the fans. Players and officials
were later driven round some areas of the Federal Capital Territory in a
motorcade before the convoy arrived at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
The Assistant Director of Communications at the NFF, Ademola Olajire told SF that their reception would not be held immediately.
“They are going to their various homes
on Thursday until further notice. Arrangement will have to be concluded
with a definite events schedule before the Federation will recall them
to Abuja,” he said.
Olajire added that the new Minister of
Youth and Sports, Mr. Solomon Dalong, later had dinner with the players
at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
And while the Eaglets were being
received in Abuja, their seniors, the Super Eagles, were rounding off
their training programme before their departure for Swaziland. The
Eagles will fly out to Swaziland by 7.30am on Thursday (today) for the
2018 World Cup qualifying match against the Southern Africans billed for
Friday.
“Everything needed for the trip has been firmed up. They will leave in the morning as scheduled,” Olajire said.
The team captain Ahmed Musa who spoke
with reporters in Abuja on Wednesday said that the team was ready for
the game while assuring his fans that the burden of captaincy would not
affect his output.
Reacting specifically to a question on
how he feels captaining more experienced players like Mikel Obi and
Obafemi Martins, Musa said he would succeed with their backing.
He said, “When I came to the Eagles, in
2010 Obafemi Martins was like a father to me and he taught me a lot
about the game. We also played together in Russia and we were close. It
is fate that has made me captain and I will still count on his
experience.”
“I will respect them and they should
give me my due too. It is a reciprocal thing. Obafemi is like a father
to me and I will always count on him for advice and other things.”
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