Golden Eaglets coach confirms Halilu's impact will be missed on Wednesday

Tomiwa Babalola

The head coach of the national U-17 team, Emmanuel Amunike has assured Nigerians that he will replace injured influential defender Lukman Halilu in the Wednesday's semi final encounter with the Amajimbos of South Africa at the Caf African U17 Championship.

Amunike, whose side remains unbeaten in the championship after qualifying for the semi's with two wins and a draw admitted that the best was to have all his players ready for the game, but insists that he has substitutes who will fit in well in to the team.

The Eaglets coach also stressed that it was important the team emerges as African champions at the end of the competition on Sunday, March 1 after booking a place at the FIFA U-17 world cup which Nigeria won in 2013.

“Yes, if we have our way, we would have loved to have all our players available going into this match. But we must be ready for all the inconveniences that the game brings. This is one of those inconveniences when one of our key players is not going to play the next game. Hopefully, we would find the solution and find other players who can also do the same job.

He added: “For the moment, we are evaluating and observing all the players and after our last training on Tuesday, we would look at the team deeply and be able to come out with a plan against South Africa.”

The former African Footballer of the year said that his team will be well assessed and come out with the best strategy against South Africa on Wednesday.

But he reckons that his team will do everything possible to record a win on Wednesday so as to protect the country’s unbeaten run against South Africa. Goal