Machine test for Falconets

Assistant Coach of the team, Rolandson Odeh said the team will take on first division new entrants Macbeth Queens on Wednesday while the following day; they will be up against Police Machine team. Both matches will take place inside the main bowl of the national stadium, Lagos.

“The two games have been fixed to give us the kind of oppositions that we are anticipating from Equatorial Guinea” Odeh told Nigeriasports.com

So far, the technical crew led by Felix Ibe have retained 35 players but Odeh said the number will be further pruned down to 30 after both scrimmages.

“We are sure that by the end of the two games, five more players will go home, leaving us with 30 that will leave for Abeokuta”he said.

Should Nigeria survive the African qualifiers, the Falconets could be playing in one of the toughest groups of the FIFA U-19 World Cup.

In the draw conducted on Monday by FIFA, Africa’s lone representative will play in group B which also has China, Brazil and a fourth-placed UEFA representative.

Brazil's women will be making their second successive appearance at the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship. The Samba Girls proved themselves to be the undisputed queens of South American football by winning the CONMEBOL zone Olympic qualifiers.

They scored 16 goals in three qualifying games and newly appointed Coach Nelson Rodrigues says he wants to improve on the fourth-place spot the girls earned at Canada 2002 where they were adjudged the most entertaining side.

China were however beaten in the Asian qualifiers by Korea DPR

Report by Bassey Koma, Abuja