The Media Officer of Flamingoes, Gloria Akujobi, said on Monday that the team would perform well in the forthcoming U-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan, better than they did in New Zealand in 2008.

The 3rd edition of the U-17 World Cup will hold from Sept. 22 to Oct. 13 in Azerbaijan.

Akujobi said that the team had been engaging in friendly matches with local clubs as part of efforts to ensure a good performance.

“In fact, as part of our preparations for the World Cup, we’re playing friendly matches with local clubs in the country. Through these friendly matches, we will be able to select our final 25 players that will represent the country in Azerbaijan.

“We believe that this year is going to be better for us. The Flamingoes in the last World Cup got to the quarter-finals, so we are expecting a better performance,” she said.

Akujobi said that five players have been dropped from the 35 invited.

“It’s going to be like that, playing matches and dropping players before we get the final 25 players we need.

“So far, there are no challenges, the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) has provided all that we want in camp and everything is going on fine,” the media officer said.

Akujobi, however, said that the team had yet to know when it would depart for their training tour.