Posted by In a pivotal 13th African Games group phase final match at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium in Accra on Friday, the players of the U20 Boys, Flying Eagles have been urged by President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, to give it their all when they face Senegal’s Young Lions of Teranga.
The NFF boss has been quite forthright in his criticism of the seven-time African champions’ performance in the continental meet thus far. They have lost 1-2 to Uganda and narrowly defeated South Sudan on the strength of a late penalty conversion by Isiyaka Muhammad Sadiq.
Every player donning the green, white, and green should be cognizant of the fact that Nigeria has a stellar reputation in youth football around the world. I told the boys what was on my mind after we lost to Uganda.
Despite our best efforts, we were unable to swiftly secure all three points in our match against South Sudan. In my opinion, the team is capable of much more, and they need to prove it against Senegal on Friday. We need a victory in this match if we want to advance to the semifinals.
There were five teams in the original group B housing Nigeria, meaning each side would have played four matches instead of three. After Tunisia withdrew their support later in the day, six-pointer Uganda was selected to go to the semi-finals from the pool, setting up a match between Senegal and Nigeria. Once they dropped both games, South Sudan were eliminated from contention.
As for the women’s team, the defending champions Falconets aren’t worried about anything going wrong in their last group stage encounter. They’ve already earned a spot in the semi-finals with six points from their first two games.
On Matchday 1, Chioma Olise and Yina Adoo put Morocco in their place. On Monday night, Senegal was utterly destroyed by an onslaught that included goals from Loveth Edeh, Motunrayo Ezekiel, an own goal by Aisha Kales, and another goal from Chioma Olise.
On Friday night, the supercharged Falconets will take on Cameroon at the Cape Coast Stadium, adding to their humiliation after a run of losses at the hands of Nigeria in recent weeks.