Cairo — The Flying Eagles took time out on Saturday to visit the historic sites of Giza hours after their qualification into the Round of 16 at the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt.

The team arrived at the Giza Pyramids around 11:20 in the morning and spent about 45 minutes at the foots of the two magnificent edifices, namely, Cheops and Kufru, where they unwind, took pictures, share banters and jokes.

The Eagles also visited the Sphinx, which is the largest monolith statue in the world and the oldest known monumental structure built by ancient Egyptians in the third millennium BC. It's also reputed to be the place of mummification for Egypt's Pharoahs.

Coach Samson Siasia told Trustsports that he decided to bring the team to the historical sites so as to take their minds off the disappointments of the opening stages and raise their spirits ahead of their clash against Germany in Suez on Wednesday.

"Knowing that we have qualified as one of the four best third-place teams and will be playing our next match outside Cairo we decided to use the time out to bring the team to Giza Pyramids. Hopefully, it will boost their morale and spirit after a turbulent start to the championship," Siasia said.

Siasia, who disclosed that he had been to Giza couple of times, said he believed that the visit will inspire his players who were downhearted by the team's performance, especially the first time visitors.

One of them was team captain Odion Ighalo, who could not conceal his excitement at the massive ancient structures.

"This is my first time and I am very happy...and we are all delighted with what we are seeing and it's a good way to celebrate our qualification. We have been watching this on television and reading it in books but we are now seeing live. It's wonderful," said the striker, who was a history graduate. "Now we can go back to our hotel, sit together and plan how to execute our next match."

After the awe-stirring trip to one of ancient world's most wonderful spots, Ighalo has this message to Nigerians: "Yeah, by God's grace I will start banging in the goals from the next game."