Flying Eagles Face Lobi As Nasarawa United Stop U-20 100% Run

Flying Eagles Face Lobi As Nasarawa United Stop U-20 100% Run 

By Niyi Busari

Nigeria U20 men team, Flying Eagles will this morning trade tackles with Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side, Lobi Stars, BSNSports.com.ng can report.

The Saturday friendly match against the Benue based club will be the Nigeria side nineth warm-up match as they prepare for the CAF U20 African Nations Cup in Egypt.

Having won the previous seven games with huge margin, the road become tougher as they come from behind to draw Nasarawa United after Ikenna Offor put the Lafia team ahead from the spot. Lekan Adam ensured both sides share the spoils with a sublime finish from close range after Goalkeeper, Ameh Godwin, spilled Yahaya Ibrahim’s thunderbolt toward his path four minutes from stoppage time.

Score-draw it ended at the full-time in a game that saw both sides sizing each other up in an entertaining manner.

It’s Nasarawa United’s second Pre-Season draw in three days after holding border neighbours, Lobi Stars FC to a goalless stalemate at the Aper Aku Stadium, in Makurdi, Benue State.

The Solid Miners are preparing for the 2022/23 Nigeria Professional Football League Season while the WAFU Zone ‘B’ winning Flying Eagles are jostling for the AFCON U-20 Tournament slated for February 18th, 2023, in Egypt, and a ticket in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup Tournament.

However, Nasarawa United head coach, Bala Nikyu praised the Nigerian side for the quality of players in camp, urging the coaching crew to concentrate more on improving the weakness of the team. “Well, the match is good for both teams because we are preparing for the elite domestic league while they are preparing for a major tournament.

“In fact, the match is more important to them because they will represent the country at an international competition.

“For now, whether you win or lose isn’t the most important thing, but being able to identify the areas of weaknesses and subsequent corrections.

“In all fairness, our opponents today are a very good side.

“I do hope they will exhibit the same fighting spirit when they start participating at the international competition.

“Concerning the new league season, we at Nasarawa United are ready, irrespective of any date agreed upon to kickstart the new league season.”

Meanwhile, Oladuni Oyekale, U-20 assistance coach admitted that they have been playing with lower teams but ready for business as they face tougher opponents ahead of the AFCON finals. “It’s a great game between these two teams.

“The team (Flying Eagles) are undergoing some processes. All this while, we were playing against Academy sides. We just started playing against top-league sides, and you should know that Clubs are different.

“Yeah, we were able to overcome Wikki Tourists in our last game before today’s encounter.

“We played a 1-1 draw with Nasarawa United which is a good thing for us. They are a very big team, and have good and experienced players.

“However, what we really enjoyed in the game was the fighting spirit our boys showed to equalize after conceding from the spot.”