U20 WC Victoria: World Champion May Come Through Royal Athletic Park

Courtesy BC Soccer Web

World Champion May Come Through Royal Athletic Park
Team host could be the magic formula

By Randy Wachtin

Pete Songhurst is a long-time fixture in the Victoria sports scene and veteran of the world champion Victoria Bates Softball team’s of the mid 70’s that entertained large crowds at Royal Athletic Park (RAP). As team host to Nigeria in the FIFA U20 World Cup, Songhurst could be moving head first into another world championship journey through the fabled park.

The delegation from the African nation is likely the largest in the tournament with numbers totalling 39 to date. This includes the Chairman, Secretary and Senior Committee member of the Nigerian Football Association (NFA). The head of the Nigerian Heritage Society is also in Victoria having booked Norway House, a local hall for entertaining and University of Victoria Housing to provide residence for the multitude of Nigerian supporters expected to arrive in Victoria for the tournament. It’s party time!

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World Champion May Come Through Royal Athletic Park

Our Goal?
Beat Nigeria!
The Costa Rican coaching staff must be thinking they will be in Canada for a lengthy journey. Two boxes of Timbits were perched on a small stool next to the large blue coolers filled with Powerade at Saturday morning’s training session at Victoria’s Bullen Park. Early assimilation to Canadian culture is a positive sign. Make mine a doble, doble!

The Ticos were in a spirited mood as their athletic trainer, ran a playful scrimmage session for twenty minutes. There was so much banter, teasing, mocking. It was as if they were using distraction to train for distracting…. Does that make sense?

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Our Goal?

Nigeria’s Exit Strategy
It was interesting to watch defending champion Argentina on television yesterday as they opened up against the Czech Republic in Ottawa’s Frank Clair stadium. Though they dominated play in the match, they succumbed to the pressures of their own expectations and narrowly escaped a disaster in the dying minutes to walk away with a scoreless draw. True, they lost their first match in 2005 to the United States of America and then went on to win the Youth World Cup, but this seemed different.

In contrast, the other finalist from the ‘05 event, Nigeria, will be looking to part the dark clouds of uncertainty thrust upon them in their homeland and look to seek respect and truly be discovered.

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Nigeria’s Exit Strategy