Nduka Ugbade, the Assistant Coach of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles on Saturday says his team is `battle-ready’ to conquer Brazil in their opening match of the ongoing World Cup in New Zealand.

Ugbade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) from the tournament venue that the Eagles were ready as a team to win their opening match on June 1 against Brazil.

“All is set for our first match because wining an opening game will help us to set the pace for our subsequent outings at the competition.

“The players and goalkeepers are in `fantastic’ shape and all the technical crew are working round the clock to ensure that all goes down well,” he assured.

The competition commenced on May 30 will end on June 20.

The Eagles/Brazil match will be played at the Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

The first edition of the tournament was staged in 1977. This year’s edition is the 20th in the series. The last was held in 2013 in Turkey at which France won.

Unfortunately, France, the defending champions would not be part of the ongoing event for failing to make it to the final round of the UEFA qualifying tournament.

France has now become the fourth consecutive incumbent title holder to fail to qualify for the subsequent tournament.
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.
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... Read more..