The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria will be facing Chile, Croatia and the United States of America in the Group A of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup which will be taking place in Chile.
In the draw which took place on Thursday, August 6, the 24 participating countries were drawn into six groups.
The official draw was conducted by FIFA Event Manager, Jaime Yarza on Thursday night (early Friday in Nigeria) at the iconic Centro de las Artes (Art Centre) 660 in Santiago.
For the African representatives, Guinea- were drawn with Brazil, England, and Korea Republic- Mali-were drawn with Belgium, Honduras and Ecuador-while South Africa will face Costa Rica, Korea DPR and Russia.
The hosts, Chile was draw in Group C alongside Australia, Germany, Mexico.
Reacting to the draw, coach of the Nigeria U-17 team who are the defending champions of the World Cup, Emmanuel Amuneke is upbeat about his team's chances to defend their title.
"The draw is a welcome development because we had been waiting anxiously for long to know about the teams we are going to meet and it is interesting that we are in the same group with the host team, Chile," the former African Footballer of the Year told the NFF official website.
"I think our group like the rest is not an easy one and we were not expecting anything less. As such, we must be ready to play any team after all, we are the defending champions."
"We know there won't be any easy game for us and we have to redouble our efforts and continue to prepare well since we know now our group phase opponents.
"All this while, we had been working generally but we would now be working specifically with our opponents in mind."
The Groups in full:
A (Santiago, Vina del Mar, Coquimbo): Chile, Croatia, Nigeria, USA
B (La Serena, Coquimbo, Vina del Mar): England, Guinea, Brazil, Korea Republic
C (Chillan, Talca): Australia, Germany, Mexico, Argentina
D (Talca, Chillan): Belgium, Mali, Honduras, Ecuador
E (Concepcion, Puerto Montt): South Africa, Costa Rica, Korea DPR, Russia
F (Puerto Montt, Concepcion): New Zealand, France, Syria, Paraguay
The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be held between October 17 and November 8 across eight cities in Chile.
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