Flying Eagles arrived Christchurch Monday evening ahead of Thursday’s U-20 World Cup Round of 16 clash against European champions Germany.

ready to go … Flying Eagles players celebrate in one of their matches at the last African Youth Championship. Flying Eagles are set to take on the World at the FIFA U-20 Championship in New Zealand.

The African champions have checked into Rydges Latimer Christchurch, where their rivals for a place in the last-eight of the World Cup are also putting up.

The Flying Eagles, led by NFF executive committee member Ahmed Yusuf ‘Fresh’, flew out of New Plymouth, where they have played all their group games, for Auckland.

They had a two-hour transit in Auckland before they departed for Christchurch, which was in 2011 hit by a massive earthquake. They will have their first training in Christchurch today’s evening by 6pm local time.

Their match on Thursday will kick off at 7.30 pm, which will be 8.30am on Thursday in Nigeria.

The winners of this match-up will battle the winners of another Round of 16 match between Ghana and Mali in the quarterfinals, which will also be staged in Christchurch.