Abuja — Nigeria's U-17 team Golden Eaglets and their New Zealand counterparts will today at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium slug it out in a battle that will see the winner qualifying for the quarter-final of the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup and the loser going home.

A winner in today's tie between Nigeria and New Zealand would face the winner of the Mexico and Korea Republic match which comes up in Bauchi today.

Nigeria is going into this stage of the competition as favourites, having won two matches and drawn one to garner seven points as group A leaders ahead of Argentina with six point and Germany's four points.

The Nigerian team, which is also the defending champion of the cadet World Cup, is favoured to win today's duel and qualify for the quarter-final ahead of their foes who got to this level as one of the best losers in the competition from group D.

Nigeria qualified from the group that also has two other potentials winners and adjudged as the toughest in the competition.

Honduras, the other country in the same group with Nigeria, who will be cursing their luck in the draw for a long time to come, caused all three opponents problems, but ultimately failed to win any points.

With high hopes from the local fans and the nation's football federation, the defending champions started their title defence on a shaky note, coming from 3-0 down to draw in their first game against Germany at the main bowl of the Abuja National Stadium.

The Eaglets knew that the hopes of a nation were resting on their shoulders, which perhaps explains why the pressure got to them in their opening match.

The Eaglets were being completely outclassed by Germany, trailing 3-0 after an hour in their home World Cup. From somewhere, however, they found the mental strength to get back into the game, scoring three goals without reply to secure a point, and they have not looked back since.

Since then, they have recorded a 1-0 win over Honduras and beaten Argentina 2-1. The Albicelestes, who finished as group runners-up, will no doubt be regretting their decision to field a weakened team, which may well have been what deprived them of top spot. In their previous games, they had done what was required of them and notched up two wins, while putting in mediocre performances.

In footballing folklore, fighting till the last second and overcoming a hopeless situation is seemingly a uniquely German trait. Yet on the opening day of Nigeria 2009, the tables were very much turned, as the Mannschaft had to settle for a 3-3 draw, despite having led 3-0 after an hour's play.

Clearly inspired by their opponent's great feats of the past, Nigeria managed to beat the comeback kings at their own game.

At the end of the group stage, Nigeria had played more FIFA U-17 World Cup matches than any other African country. Until then, the continental record (43 matches) was held by Ghana, who did not qualify for Nigeria 2009.

No doubt the team will not lack the needed boost to overrun their opponents in today's encounter, as the local fans have since lined behind the Eaglets, following their improves showing in the last two matches against Honduras and Argentina after a shaky start against Germany in the opening game.

In today's encounter, Coach John Obuh is expected to throw his men into the attack early to avoid the early set back suffered in the first match against Germany, knowing that the New Zealand team that drew all its three group matches could make recovery very difficult if allowed to take the lead.