SAN FRANCISCO, December 09, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Under-20 squad, the Flying Eagles will contend for a place in the semi-finals of the West African Football Union (WAFU) B U-20 competition in Porto Novo, Benin Republic on Wednesday against West African arch rivals, Ghana’s Black Satellites at the Stade Charles de Gaulles.
As reported by THEWILL, the Flying Eagles were down to 10-men in their last outing against Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday and held their slender lead until the last minutes when they succumbed to a draw.
With only three teams in Group B, the seven-time African champions must win to avoid any unforeseen circumstances against their advancement to the knock-out rounds.
In that Sunday match, Chris Nwaeze had put the Flying Eagles ahead of the Ivorians in the 61st minute but he got sent off for a second bookable offence and made it a tougher game to win for his teammates. Nwaeze, suspended for the red card, will therefore not feature in Wednesday’s tie.
However, Ladan Bosso, the head coach of the U-20s remains confident about the chances of his charges. He admits there were mistakes and says the lessons learnt from the opening match would be put to good use against the Black Satellites
“I thought we did enough to pick up the three points against the Ivorians but we lost concentration towards the tail end of the game and were punished for it.
“We controlled the game for most parts and should have won but the red card destabilised my boys and put us out of sync tactically. The clash with Ghana will be tough but we are ready.
“The boys understand what is at stake and I have confidence they will do the nation proud. Our target here remains the same: winning the tournament and qualifying for the CAF U20 Cup of Nations in Mauritania.”
Mike Zaruma, captain of the Flying Eagles, was of the same mindset.
“Taking only one point from the tie with the Ivorians was a tough one because we played better and created more chances to win the game. We felt disappointed but that is behind us now and Ghana is the focus. We know that we must win to enhance our chances of reaching the knockout stage.
“I believe in what we can do as a team. We are ready to pick the three points against Ghana in order to make Nigerians happy.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
