By Samm Etuk in Calabar
Nigeria are going for the first of the three last laps towards realizing their dream of retaining the FIFA U-17 World Cup won in Korea during the last edition. Today they are meeting the Koreans, who gave them strong backing from the stands years back following their entertaining football.
The city hosting the match, Calabar has been invaded by soccer fans from all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. Flights to Calabar were fully booked on Sunday and Monday, making the Cross River State slogan destiny Calabar a reality.
The Nigerian coach, John Obuh and their most exciting attacker, Stanley Okoro, who have lived in the first capital of Nigeria before where football actually had its foundation in this part of the World, want to leave the ancient colonial headquarters happy.
Okoro told africansportsdigest.com that he is looking forward to a memorable match that will be celebrated by Nigerians for years to come.
“We want to win this game and go on to capture the trophy. I know that’s the thinking of my team mates too. We’re pretty focus and know what Nigerians want at this time. I’ve played football here (in Calabar) for four years as during my teen days as a primary schoolboy. I am from Eastern Nigeria and this is part of our side too,” he said.
To coach Obuh beating Korea is not negotiable: “We have to win this match and we don’t want anything to stop us. We’re set for victory.”