The Golden Eaglets' captain, Kelechi Nwakali, along side his teammate, Victor Osimhen have expressed their respect for the Malian U17 national team, who made it to the final of the championship for the first time, but insists they are not scared of the African champions.
Nigeria are the current holder of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and as such, have a date with Mali on Sunday night, at 11pm Nigerian
time in the final of the 2015 edition of FIFA U17 championship in Chile, to further improve on their U17 world records, after becoming the first country to win the tournament four times since it's inception in 1985.
Kelechi Nwakali, the younger brother of Chidiebere Nwakali said in a chat FIFA said that ahead of their clash against Mali at the Estadio Sausalito in Vina del Mar that other than the respect, Mali should be ready for war.
Nwakali said: "We respect Mali because they are the African champions but we are not afraid of them," said Nwakali who earlier had a photo session with his Malian counterpart, Abdoul Dante."It is going to be a memorable final and we are going to do our best against Mali on Sunday ."
Nwakali noted that as the defending champions, Nigeria is in pole position ahead of the Malians who were crowned African champions last February at the African U-17 Nations Cup in Niger.
He said: “We are the defending champions of the World Cup and that means we need to be respected too; we know that playing against Mali would not be an easy match but we are confident about our chances. The coach ( Emmanuel Amuneke) is the one that knows the secret of oursuccess ; our job is to go out and play based on his instruction.”
Meanwhile, Osimhen during an interview with FIFA TV Football Show said that playing here has been a life-changing experience for him and he wished to be crowned world champions.
“ I have to thank the coach for bringing me to this tournament because it has been a life-changing experience for me personally,” he stated. “ I have been lucky to have scored those goals with the help of my teammates and together, we are going to play the final against Mali as the game of our lives."
"We have seen the Malians and we have to follow the instruction of the coach in order to stop them from playing their style if we are going to beat them,” he added."
The second all- African final at FIIFA U-17 World Cup since Japan 1993 between Nigeria and Ghana, between Mali and Nigeria in the mean time will be handled according to FIFA by English referee, Michael Oliver and his compatriot assistant referees Stuart Burt and Gary
Beswick will be joined by Costa Rican fourth official Ricardo Montero as the team of officials. The match will kick off at 11:00 pm Nigerian time( 7:00pm Chilean local time) and the Golden Eaglets would spot on the traditional green jersey. FIFA
We Will Take Care Of Mali With Respect- Golden Eaglets Captain
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