Lagos — Former junior international and current national team skipper, Nwankwo Kanu has hailed the fighting spirit the Golden Eaglets showed in their impressive comeback against Germany in their opening match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, even as a member of the technical crew blamed the wobble on 'jitters'.

The Golden Eaglets, who are the defending champions, slipped three goals behind the European U-17 champions, before an amazing 14-minute spell in the second half in which they scored three goals of their own and could have even gone on to win the game had they converted two late chances which came their way.

Speaking to THISDAY from his home in London, Kanu, one of the stars of Nigeria's 1993 triumph in Japan, said it was no mean feat coming from three goals down to tie the game.

"They showed a lot of character and fighting spirit to have been able to achieve this. Many times we have seen teams, even with a man advantage not being able to make their extra numbers count. But the Eaglets were able to overcome this and showed good mental strength in not losing hope and fighting all the way to the end of the encounter," said Kanu.

The Portsmouth star also gave kudos to the Eaglets' coaching crew in being able to get the boys to turn their game around after talking to them at half time.

"We all saw the improvement in the team after the break, although the third German goal could have dampened their spirits. But the players did not lose hope and stuck to their coaches' instructions and were able to achieve a crucial draw."

Noting that as a former product of the competition, he was in a good position to point out the effects of a good performance, therefore implored the boys to put in their best as a good showing was the surest way to fast-tracking their professional careers.

"It is clear that the eyes of many scouts will be on the competition, thus a stand out performance by any of the players is bound to attract their attention. And in this time when the competition for places in European clubs is getting tougher this is the best way to get a head start," said the man, whose performances in the Far East landed him a place in the famous white and red jerseys worn by top Dutch side Ajax.

Meanwhile a member of the team's technical crew has blamed the Eaglets' shaky start to 'inexperience'. According to assistant coach, Monday Odigie, the players caught the jitters after making their debuts on the big stage for the first time in their lives.

"Yes we're not very happy with the performance of the boys, especially in the first half but Nigerians should realise that they (players) were making their first outing in front of such a large crowd at such an occasion. We should also not forget that they are all local footballers. It is clear that nerves got the better of them but after our half time talk they were able to comport themselves better and we all saw the improvement in them in the second half."

Looking ahead to the next game against Honduras tomorrow, the former Bayelsa United handler said they were expecting a much better performance.

"They should have overcome their opening match jitters so we expect them to play more relaxed and stick to instructions," said Odigie, who provided some technical assistance to Samson Siasia at the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Holland.

As things stand the Eaglets will need to beat the Central American nation in order to firm up their chances of progressing to the knock out phase. The title holders currently lie second in Group A following their draw with Germany, while Argentina tops with maximum points after their 1-0 win over the Hondurans.