The Federal Government has sent a congratory message to the Flying Eagles of Nigeria over their feat in the 2-0 victory over the host country, Argentina, in the ongoing U-20 World Cup Tournament.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, Alhaji Ismaila Abubakar, while congratulating the Team over their excellent performance at the tournament also called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure the Team puts in extra effort with a view to bringing the cup home.
A statement issued by the director of press and ublic Relations Mohammed Manga quoted the permanent secretary to have explained that the performance of the Flying Eagles at the games further demonstrates that the policy initiatives put in place for the development of sports in Nigeria and football in particular by the former administration under the supervision of the former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr Sunday Dare is sure to uplift the sports industry even at global competitions.
Alhaji Abubakar expressed optimism that the Sports and Youth Development Ministry is one of the sectors that the President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration will be proud of and thus further build up on the structures on ground towards ensuring a formidable sports industry in the country
He called on all well meaning Nigerians to pray for the Flying Eagles to conquer other contenders and return to Nigeria with the trophy
Nigeria’s U-20 team, the Flying Eagles on Wednesday, defeated host nation, Argentina 2-0 to reach the quarter-final of the U-20 World Cup with Ibrahim Muhammad scoring the first goal of the match on the 71st minute while Haliru Sarki scored with a diving header in added time to take the match out of the reach of the six-time champions.
The host nation rallied to equalise the goal but failed to utilize their chances, thus, the win against Argentina put Nigeria on the chart as one of the serious contenders for the trophy
Nigeria has only won two silver medals in the tournament with the latest being 2005 when they lost 2-1 to the Messi led Argentina in the final