Ismaila Lere
8 November 2009
Abuja — Golden Eaglets defender, Kenneth Omeruo is tipping the Nigerian cadet side to successfully defend the crown they won two years ago in South Korea.
The John Obuh-tutored side, have improved tremendously in the competition, since the opening day below par performance against European Champions, Germany when they came back from three goals deficit to earn a fair share of the point.
And the manner with which they dispatched Argentina in their last group game in Bauchi as well as the 5-0 routing of New Zealand in the second round have really boosted the players confidence that they can go all the way with Omerua who has churned out services of solid display at the heart of Eagles defence already dreaming of the title.
"With the way we are playing now, no team can stop us from winning the tournament", said Omeruo.
"I can confidently say that only mistakes on our part can alter our dream which everybody in the team is ready to guard against.
"For our next game against Korea, we are battle ready and Nigerians can be sure of another wonderful performance from us.
Meanwhile, soccer Agents from Netherland who have been impressed by the Nigerian team are already in the country to monitor the performance of the players, who many have already tipped for greater-things in future.
Similarly, Eaglets coach, John Obuh is upbeat about the chances of his wards successfully defending their crown.
Now with some of the co-favourites for the title like Brazil, Germany and Argentina already eliminated, the soft spoken Obuh is optimistic that they will get over their quarter-final opponent, South Korea and go on to retain the title they won in the same country two years ago.
"I have always believed in this team despite our not too impressive start against Germany in the opening game of the competition.
"As you can you see the team have been improving with every match and what you saw against New Zealand is a pointer to what we have set out to do for the rest of the tournament.
"Our focus now is on our next game against South Korea which is going to be a tough one because you can never underrate any team at this stage of the competition.
"Nevertheless, we are out to give our best and hopefully we will lift the trophy at the end of the day," he declared.
Should Nigeria go all the way and lift the trophy, she will be entering the history books as the first host country to lift the cadet title and the second country to successfully defend their crown after Brazil's feat in 1995 and 1997.
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