By Patrick Omorodion
Flying Eagles coach, John Obuh goes into the final group match of the on-going FIFA U-20 World Cup against Saudi Arabia which comes up for Nigerian viewers in the early hours of tomorrow with a resolve to win the contest.

Obuh, who expressed his displeasure at the two goals his wards conceded against Croatia in their 5-2 victory Thursday morning said he wants to top the group and remain in the Colombian city of Armenia which has become like a slaughter house for the team.

“I did not like the goals we conceded, but I knew we will win the game despite a late fight back by Croatia,”Obuh told fifa.com after the encounter.

He however, expressed joy in the potency of his strikers after the their goal draught during the their pre-tournament matches, stressing “We should carry on scoring goals as long as opportunity is there to score, we should score as we did in the first two matches. We came a long way to build the team and the players have been together for a long time.”

Nigeria's player Terna Suswan (L) vies for the ball with Ivan Lendric of Croatia during their FIFA World Cup U20 Group D football match held at Centenario stadium in Armenia, Quindío department, Colombia, . AFP PHOTO

With Nigeria and Saudi Arabia tied at six points each from the two wins recorded, only superior goals separate the two. Nigeria has scored ten goals, five each against Guatemala and Croatia but conceded two against Croatia for which Obuh is livid with his defenders.

The Saudis on their part have not conceded any goal while scoring eight, a proof that their defence is water-tight and this worries Obuh who says his boys must be ready to continue scoring but prevent the opponents from scoring, as they are equally as potent upfront.
“Against Saudi Arabia, we will do everything to win so as to win our group. For the second round we want to stay put in Armenia, which has proved to be a good hunting ground for us,”he said.

Continuing, Obuh said, “The Saudis will not be pushovers after they scored twice against Croatia and then put six past Guatemala. Like us, they are a very high-scoring team and we will know the better team when we clash on Saturday (tomorrow morning at 2am) ,” Obuh said.

The Saudis would attempt to hold the Flying Eagles quartet of Olarenwaju Kayode, Ahmed Musa, Edafe Egbedi and Abdul Ajagun who seem to have understood themselves so well, stringing passes that have torn the defence of their opponents to shreds.

The spirit of Nigerian football fans is so high with most of them already looking beyond the Saudis and dreaming of the Flying Eagles repeating the feat of Ghana’s Black Satellites who shoved Brazil aside to become the first African team to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup two years ago on African soil in Egypt.

The Flying Eagles have come close to lifting the trophy on two occasions, first in 1989, incidentally in Saudi Arabia where they lost to Portugal in the final and in 2005 where a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina stopped the Samson Siasia-tutored side parading Mikel Obi, Taye Taiwo and Chinedu Ogbuke in the Netherlands.