Golden Eaglets’ mercurial midfielder, Kelechi Iheanacho, has declared that there won’t be a hiding place for the El Tri of Mexico in Friday’s final at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup UAE 2013, promising to attack their opponents from the blast of the whistle.
The Taye Academy youngster believes the tie against the South Americans would be a different game from the group opener when the Eaglets spanked Mexico 6-1.
Ihenacho’s words: “I’m sure they won’t feel great about that first result. They’ll want to put pressure on us and we’ll have to be careful. We’ll respect them, but it’s hard to go against us when we’re playing our good football.
“We’ve got better since that opener. We’ve become closer and we’re going to chase them all over the field; we’re going to press them with our attackers and we won’t rest. We’ll go at them for 90 minutes until we’re sure the trophy is ours.
“We have to work as a team, play as a team. This is how you win matches.”
It is indeed, and with talents like Musa Yahaya, Taiwo Awoniyi and Abdullahi Alfa alongside Iheanacho, rest may not come easy for Mexico’s defenders.
Asked if he is a playmaker or a scorer, he smiled and said: “I’m both, but it’s not important to call yourself one or the other. If I’m in a good position to score then I’m happy to put the ball in the back of the net, but if I’m not, and I see someone in a better position, I’ll give it to him. It doesn’t matter in our team who scores the goals, who finishes top scorer or top player. It’s a collective effort.”
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