Under-23 team assistant coach, Henry Nwosu, has hailed the shift in the date of the side‘s opening match at the invitational Intercontinental Cup billed to start in Malaysia on Thursday.

The Nigerians were initially scheduled to play the opening game of the eight-team tournament against Iraq on Thursday but a delay in their departure from Lagos forced the game to be postponed till May 21.

The contingent, including 13 players and 10 officials, had been set to travel on Monday before hitches forced a two-day delay.

The team eventually left Lagos on Wednesday on an Emirates flight and Nwosu said the postponement was a positive development.

”The change in date will give us more time to train; it‘s very good for us,” the former Green Eagles star told our correspondent from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. ”With the jet lag and all the stress of travelling, it would have been very difficult to play on Thursday.”

The team‘s other fixtures are in Group A against Ireland on Saturday and host Malaysia on Monday. The games will all be played at the MBPJ Stadium.

Group B, based at the KLFA Stadium, comprises Australia, Togo, Croatia and Chile.

Nwosu insisted that the tournament would aid the team‘s preparation for the Olympics in Beijing, China in August.

He said, “We‘re going there to go and see how Asian teams play. Remember Korea is in our Olympics group and we‘ll be playing Malaysia and Iraq in the invitational.

“We have European opposition at the Olympics too in Holland and we‘ll play Ireland in Malaysia. We‘ll also have a feel of what the Chinese weather will be like, because Malaysia is close to China. So you can see it‘s a very good tournament for us.”

The winner of Nigeria‘s group will meet the runner-up of Group B in the first semi-final on May 23, the same day the winner of Group B meets the Group A runner-up.

The final holds on May 25.