1. 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship - Flying Eagles Wobble And
Fumble At Home
In 1999, Nigeria won the right to host the 12th edition of the FIFA world Youth Championship. That
was the year; the flying Eagles were tagged "wobbling and fumbling". They started their own World
Cup marketing campaign on home dirt on a rather awkward note, with a 1-1 draw against lowly rated
Costa Rica with Julius Aghahowa rating the opener in the 20th minutes of play, before picking up their
act towards Germany, whom they defeated 2-0. The goals were obtained by Ganiyu Shittu and
Hashimu Garba in the 69th and 81st Minutes respectively.
Their last team match was towards Paraguay, and they fumbled before a capacity crowd that had
come to cheer them to triumph. The game against Paraguay ended in favor of Paraguay 2-1 with
Ganiyu Shittu rating the consolation objective in the 38th moments of play. The Flying Eagles
however managed to qualify for the spherical of 16 by the skin of their tooth.
In the spherical of 16, the Flying Eagles toiled to secure a 1-1 draw towards Ireland with the
equalizing goal coming from small striker Pius Ikedia in the 70th minute. The game then proceeded to
go into penalty shoot out, and an incredible number of Nigerians had their own heart in their mouth
area throughout the duration of the kicks. It eventually went in the way of the Flying Eagles who
scrapped through 5-3. Pius Ikedia, Gbenga Okunowo, John Aranka, Eddy Dombraye and Ganiyu
Shittu just about all converted their place kicks. Thomas Heary of the Republic of Ireland missed his
spot kick to set a Quarter final pairing between Nigeria and Mali.
The flying Eagles had their own work cut out, because found the Malians too hot to take care of in the
quarterfinal clash played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium in Enugu eastern Nigeria. The Malians were
so ruthless in the quarterfinal clash, that they inflicted a 3-1 defeat on the hapless Eagles who
couldn't fly when it mattered most. The chief tormentor of the flying Eagles was Malian enterprising
midfielder Seydou Keita who later on emerges as the Adidas Golden ball honor winner.
The defeat of the hapless flying Eagles caused lots of uproar in the wearing circle, with the eventual
sack of nederlander Coach Thijs Libregts from the technical team of the Nigeria U-20 National team.
They had a lot of potentials , but they could not fully utilize their full possible. Some notable players
from that group include: Joseph Yobo, Rabiu Afolabi, Julius Aghahowa, Haruna Babangida and Late
goalkeeper Sam Okoye.
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