Flying Eagles’ head coach Paul Aigbogun yesterday in Abuja expressed confidence in his young home-based team doing the nation proud at the 12th African Games in Rabat, Morocco, reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The team has 18 home-based players, who had been training in Abuja since early in July to finalise preparations for the Games. On Monday, the coach officially released the final 18-man list, which has Plateau United’s Ibrahim Abubakar as captain.
Speaking before the team departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport for Lagos, en route Rabat, Aigbogun said he had worked with most of the boys in the build-up to the 2019 FIFA Cup in Poland.
“I have a lot of confidence in the team, in spite of the players being all home-based.“My first goal is to win our first match against Burkina Faso on Friday and we will build from there,” he said. Most of the players picked for the Games were part of the training camp in Germany before the FIFA U-20 Cup held in May and June.
According to the team’s media officer, Andrew Randa, the team was physically and psychologically ready to do the nation proud. He disclosed that a foreign-based player, from Stoke City in England, was earlier expected to join the team in Rabat.
“But he will not be making it due to logistics reasons,” Randa said.The Flying Eagles will start their campaign in the football event on Friday against Burkina Faso before taking on South Africa on August 20 and hosts Morocco on August 23, all in Rabat.
