ABUJA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria women's U-20 team coach Emmanuel Nwakwo has said here that his squad's performance at August's World Cup in Russia depends on early preparations.

    Shortly after his team beat Liberia 9-1 this weekend to qualify for the tournament, Nwakwo said only proper preparations could bring out the best in the girls.

    "You all can testify that I already have a team with potential, but without good preparations we can not get anywhere.

    "If it takes Brazil two years to prepare their World Cup team, I don't see any reason why Nigeria can not follow the same steps,"he said.

    Nwakwo appealed to the Nigeria Football Association and the Sports Ministry to ensure necessary steps are taken for the team to start camping immediately "so that the players can blend to enhance their output."

    He attributed the 9-1 victory at the qualifiers against the Liberians to hard work, saying the technical crew worked on all the deficiencies noticed at the first leg in Monrovia.

    "When we came back after the 1-1 draw, we had to go back to the drawing board and rectify all the deficiencies noticed during the match," he said. Enditem