Touted to have been improving with each match they played, host and defending champions, Golden Eaglets will today confront their counterparts from Korea Republic in a quarter-final clash at the U.J. Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
Aware that there are no room for mistakes and a ticket into the semi finals also at stake, the encounter is bound to be an intriguing clash of styles and football cultures as the fast-moving and team-oriented Koreans take on the physical and somewhat technically gifted Golden Eaglets.
Confidence
Still brimming with confidence after drubbing the hapless New Zealanders 5-0 in their round-of-16 clash in Abuja, the Eaglets would have to be careful not to underrate the Koreans, whose resilience and team play has seen them thus far.
Not completely strangers to themselves as they both featured in a four nation tournament prior to the commencement of the championship, Jin Su Kim, Korea Republic captain is confident that his team can stun Nigeria and earn a place in the semi finals “We played Nigeria and we beat them a few months ago in Dubai. So we know them and we understand their way of playing. But things have changed since then, and the context is completely different in a World Cup, and playing against the host country. We’ll enter the pitch with respect for our opponent, but confident in our strength and our chances to win,” he said.
However the Nigeria coach, John Obuh is not losing any sleep against the Koreans as he remains confident in the ability of his boys to sail through.
“I’ve had faith in my team from the start even with the problems we had at the beginning. If we keep our concentration as a team, there is no telling how far we can go. We showed in our last game against New Zealand that we can get the job done and also enjoy our football at the same time,” he said.
The winner of this encounter battle with the winner of the other quarter final match involving Spain and Uruguay.
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