Germany ready to take on Nigeria in U-17 World Cup: official

Germany expressed their readiness on Wednesday to face Nigeria at the opening match of the U-17 World Cup in Abuja on Saturday.

Bernd Barutta, head of the 44-man German delegation, told reporters in Abuja that the team was well prepared for the Nigeria clash. "We played a couple of friendly matches and the results have shown that we are prepared for this championship," said Barutta.

"In our friendly matches with African teams, we defeated Algeria 6-0 and played a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso. So from whatever angle you may want to look at it, we are fully prepared," he added. He rated Nigeria and Argentina as very good teams, saying that they would focus more on them towards qualifying from group A.

The head of the delegation recalled that Nigeria stopped Germany in the semi-finals in South Korea in 2007.

"This time around, we hope to surpass the semi-final stage," he said. The Germans, who arrived in Abuja on Tuesday evening, commended the level of hospitality shown by both Nigerians and Germans to the team. "It was a good entry for us because a couple of Germans and Nigerians came to welcome us on our arrival," he said.

Germany is one of the teams grouped together with Nigeria, Argentina and Honduras for the U-17 championship.

The Abuja center will host nine of the 52 games that will be played in the championship.