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By: Abiodun Adewale.
Ahead of their first game against The Netherlands on Wednesday (today) at the Dream Cup Invitational tournament in Japan, head coach of Nigeria’s U-15 side, Haruna Ilerika, says his objective at the competition is to get the best out of the boys and prepare them for the future.
The four-team invitational tournament holds from today May 31-June 5.
After a journey that saw them go through Abuja — Ethiopia – South Korea – Japan — the lads arrived at their accommodation at the Fukushima J-Village Sports Centre on Monday.
The team had two phases of camping in Abuja in the past two months, during which they won seven of their eight friendly matches, losing only one.
“The essence is to create friendship and see the level of development among nations. The Nigeria Football Federation has not set any hard task for us, what they want to see is the progress we have made with the boys as well as those who can transition from this level to higher,” Ilerika told NFF media.
He, however, maintained that the team would improve on their third-place finish at the 2019 edition.
“On our part, winning is key. We want to be successful and we want to achieve something which we believe will make the county proud. Nonetheless, we are more focused on the development of the boys. We were here in 2019 and finished third and we want to win this time around.”
After their opening game against The Netherlands, the Future Eagles will battle Japan June 2, before rounding up against the USA June 4.