Ahead of the semifinal battle between Nigeria and The Gambia on Monday, head coach of the Flying Eagles, Ladan Bosso, has underlined the need for his team to not underrate any of the three other teams remaining at the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations ongoing in Egypt.
In order to guarantee a spot in the final, the Young Eagles must defeat the Young Scorpions, who have won all of their games in the tournament and have yet to concede a goal while scoring nine, including a convincing 5-0 thrashing of debutants South Sudan in the quarterfinals last Friday.
With a spirited 1-0 victory over the Hippos of Uganda last Thursday at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismaila, Nigeria sealed qualification as one of the last four teams in the competition and one of Africa’s representatives at the upcoming U-20 FIFA World Cup in Indonesia.
“I’m happy to be back in Cairo once again after we played the last two matches in Ismailia,” Bosso said. “Tomorrow we will face The Gambia who are a strong team and we respect them well but we will work to present a good level to win.
“We lost the first match and we have not lost any match since then.”
Although the Flying Eagles missed the last edition of the U-20 AFCON in Mauritania, they recently won the tournament in 2015 after defeating hosts Senegal 1-0 in the finals. Nonetheless, Bosso is ready to motivate his young team to repeat that triumph and emerge with the nation’s eighth title at the continental youth championship.
“We will face a team that has not been defeated in the tournament,” the former El-Kanemi Warriors coach said. “The most important thing for us in the tournament is that we qualified for the World Cup. Now we will fight to win the title.”
“There are no big or small teams in football because it’s only performance and result that counts,” Bosso added.
Furthermore, team captain Daniel Bameyi, who missed the Flying Eagles quarterfinal match against Uganda due to suspension, reiterated the importance of Monday’s semi-final.
“The match is important for us and winning is very important. We want to win and take the trophy back to our country,” the Yumyum FC defender said. “We are not under any pressure; we enjoy every match and go into each match with new energy and motivation.”
Nigeria and The Gambia will lock horns at the Cairo International Stadium at 6pm WAT, three hours after the first semifinal between the Young Teranga Lions of Senegal and Tunisia at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium.
