There are encouraging reports from the camp of the junior national team, the Flying Eagles ahead of  tonight’s round of 16 match against England, at the ongoing FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Colombia.

The team’s media officer, Samm Audu told PANA at the team’s camp that “the Nigerian team has no injury scare that will keep any player on the bench during the match.”

He said “everybody is fine, even though a scan was carried out on (striker) Olanrewaju Kayode late Monday to be sure he did not suffer any serious damage to his head when he fell after a hard tackle during the match against Saudi Arabia.”

He also said Flying Eagles’ central defender Ganiu Ogungbe, who suffered an ankle injury against Croatia, returned to training with the rest of the team Monday.

Looking ahead with optimism, Audu said the Flying Eagles should not have any difficulty beating England and advancing to the quarter-final, adding that the ultimate goal for the team was winning the tournament.

Though Nigeria has featured at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup more frequently than any other team in Africa, it has yet to win the tournament.

Ghana is the only African winner of the two-yearly FIFA Under-20 World Cup, after achieving success in Egypt in 2009.

But Audu said Nigerian football officials are so confident of the Flying Eagles’ determination to win this year’s tournament that they have invited President Goodluck Jonathan to the final which, they believe, will involve the Nigerian team.

After playing their last group match in the ancient city of Pereira, the Eagles are back in Armenia for their clash against England.
‘We are back in Armenia, which is like home to us, and we are in the same hotel with the England players,’ Audu said.