Dubai: Nigeria coach Manu Garba insists he and his team fear nobody ahead of their Fifa Under-17 World Cup semi-final showdown with Sweden at Rashid Stadium in Dubai on Tuesday.
Speaking at a pre-match conference on Monday, Garba hailed his side’s winning mentality and ruled out stagefright getting between them and a record fourth World Cup title, despite now facing the team which has caused them the most trouble so far this tournament.
World Cup debutants Sweden led twice against Nigeria before the Golden Eaglets pulled it back to 3-3 in their group stage clash. Apart from that, Nigeria thrashed Mexico 6-1 and Iraq 5-0, before they beat Iran 4-1 and Uruguay 2-0 in the knockout stages.
Sweden only finished third in that group, but they then stunned Japan and Honduras with a pair of 2-1 wins to set themselves up for this last-four rematch with the Africans.
Whoever wins will take on the winner of Argentina and Mexico’s semi-final in the final in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Despite Sweden’s previous form against Nigeria, Garba expressed little doubt. “Ever since I was born I never entertained fear. I don’t even know what that word means,” he said.
“Above all our priority is to get to the final, so I believe our game against Sweden will be one of those matches we will play with all seriousness, as we cannot afford to go back to Nigeria without the cup.
“Definitely the Swedes are taller than us so they have an advantage from the aerial ball, but our antidote to that is to stop crosses and, by the time we play them again, it will be a different ball game.”
Already with one eye on their possible opponents in the final, Garba added: “The Swedes are very disciplined and tactical, but for me the hardest team in the competition is Mexico. For them to have come back from an opening 6-1 defeat [against Nigeria themselves] and still make the semi-final definitely makes them a very strong side. We respect the Swedes but rate the Mexicans above them.”
And asked what it was that made him so confident, Garba said: “If you want to take a player he must be confident and believe in himself. He must be composed and concentrated. These players don’t want to lose even in a five-a-side training game.
“These players play with confidence everyday and their winning mentality has served them a great deal. We have never played a match without scoring more than two goals, with the exception of our quarter-final. We know the semi-final may be tight too but our players are fully prepared to score as many goals as possible.”
