With few days to the commencement of the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirate, Golden Eaglets’ star striker Isaac Success has said that the overall success of the team is far more important than any individual ambition.
Success comes into this fray in a blaze of glory as Africa’s best striker after scoring seven goals in five matches at the CAN Championship in Morocco last April. But speaking from the team’s Dubai training camp on Monday, the youngster said he was not carried away about past achievements with his eyes firmly focussed on the bigger picture.
“Frankly, we are looking forward to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with great optimism as a team and I think this is far greater than the ambition of any one of us,” said Success who is the Golden Eaglets’ vice captain.
The Golden Eaglets boast of many talented youngsters but Success enthused that emphasis should be on their collective efforts when pressed to pick the team’s likely lucky charm in UAE.
“I’m not looking forward to anybody being the star player and personally it is not my focus,”noted the lad who was nicknamed Nasarah-success in Arabic language- by Coach Manu Garba.” What is important is what we can do as a team and we all want to be successful at this World Cup.”
The Golden Eaglets remain one of the best teams at this level having won on three previous occassions and Success is upbeat about the chances of the current squad.”Our preparation is going well since we came to Dubai and we are praying to God to bless all our efforts,”he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Golden Eaglets duo of Chidera Ezeh and Taiwo Awoniyi has equally sad that the team is at the ready for the challenges of rubbing shoulders against the rest of the world in the UAE: “We are here on a mission and to make up for what we lost at the African Championship in Morocco and with our collective efforts, we shall overcome,” they both said in an exclusive video shoot released to the public.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eaglets would step up their preparation when they play their much-anticipated friendly match against the American University on Wednesday at the school’s ground located inside the Dubai Academic City.” We are impressed with the condition of the players and their response to training since we arrived in Dubai last week,” said Coach Garba.”We are hoping to see all what we have been doing under match situation when we play our first friendly match here on Wednesday.”
