U-20 World Cup: Nigeria's Flying Eagles must aim a bright start in tough Group D duel

Posted : 21 May 2023

The Flying Eagles of Nigeria will on Sunday open thier 13th appearance in the U-20 World Cup against debutant, Dominican Republic at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina, on Sunday with high expectations that the game is a must-win encounter.

As the 2023 edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup will get underway in Argentina on Saturday, Nigeria’s Flying Eagles should be looking at ways to better their performances of the previous editions which they have reached the finals twice but lost on both occasions.

The Nigerian side has played in the final twice in the past (1989 and 2005) losing to Portugal and The Netherlands.

For the 2023 edition, although the Group D where the Flying Eagles are paired can be considered as the toughest group of the competition, yet the Ladan Bosso-tutored young lads can take positives from the group having to face the strongest teams in the competition to test their strength before qualifications to the knockout stage.

The Flying Eagles could have avoided the tough Group if they had won or emerged as the second best at the U-20 AFCON, but sadly they won bronze which places them unseeded in the pairings, this automatically means that they should expect to have tough opponents who are seeded.

The Flying Eagles came third among the four countries representing Africa at the biennial competition alongside, winners, Senegal, runners up, Gambia and Tunisia

While many bookmakers might have written-off the Flying Eagles because of the strong oppositions in Group D that comprises Italy, Brazil and Dominican Republic, it is not out of place if the Cadet Eagles can spring a surprise or rather re-incarnate the spirit of the Super Eagles Class of '94.

Tough as the group may seem, Nigeria has nothing to fear if they can win convincingly against Dominican Republic which should give them courage to face European powerhouse Italy and then the last match of the Group D fixtures against five-time champions Brazil.

On paper, Dominican Republic coached by Walter Rosales has little chance of going past the much experienced Nigerian side, yet, the technical crew of the Flying Eagles must not take chances against the tournament's supposed-minows.

Preparatory to the World Cup the coach, Bosso has been brave enough to drop some underperforming players off the team, about three of them, while he was able to convince the AC Milan wonderkid, Victor Eletu to join the campaign to beef up the defensive midfield position.

In a warm up match, the Flying Eagles were also able to play a 3-3 draw against Colombia which in all considerations are a relatively good side on Tuesday.

The North American Dominican Republic will make their debut in the U-20 FIFA World Cup, with a challenge against Nigeria, yet, their recent performances and a decent run in the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 tournament, reaching the finals, before they were demolished 6-0 by the USA is a credit to the team.

The team will put up a fight and refuse the tag as whipping boys of the tournament, wanting to showcase what they have against Nigeria.

Head-to-head
Nigeria and Dominican Republic have yet to face each other at this stage and so this game will mark the first meeting at U-20 level which will make prediction a bit tough.

Relatively and realistically, Nigeria has greater odds to beat Dominican Republic, however on many occasions, Nigeria had faltered against less-fancied team because they tend to focus more attention on bigger opponents.

Playing styles and technical capabilities will be a determining factor of this game which is a must-win for Nigeria, if they aim to take anything out of the competition.

U-20 World Cup: Nigeria's Flying Eagles must aim a bright start in tough Group D duel

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