Golden Eaglets captain: We want to follow in Osimhen, Chukwueze’s footsteps

Golden Eaglets skipper Precious Williams hopes he and his colleagues can follow in the footsteps of some of Nigeria’s World U17 stars like Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze.

Osimhen and Chukwueze were in Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets team that won the FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile in 2015 and have grown to become superstars in the sport.

Williams hopes he and his colleagues can grow to become global stars too as he first hopes to lead Nigeria to glory at the African U17 Nations Cup in Algeria.

‘It is a big encouragement just watching them at the highest level and knowing that they started here at the U17 Cup of Nations. It is a big encouragement for us players that we can make it too,’ Williams told CAF’s official website.

‘Personally it is a huge motivation for me and I hope that from here I will lift my name high too.”

Nigeria have qualified for the tournament a record 10 times, and is one of only five countries to have ever won the tournament twice since the start of its new format in 1995.

The 16-year old centre forward says they have prepared well for the tournament and are looking forward to attaining their targets.

‘The coaches have done their work to prepare us for the games and we are coming in to use the knowledge they have imparted in us to get what we want to achieve; qualifying for the World Cup and trying to win the tournament,’ said Williams.

Teams that progress to the semi-finals will automatically earn a slot into the next World Cup to be staged later on in the year and for a tournament they have won five times before, this will be the least expected of the Golden Eaglets.