Nigeria battles Gambia for African U-20 Cup of Nations’ final ticket

Photo by Abeer Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Nigeria’s quest for an eighth African U-20 Nations Cup title will face a litmus test today when the Flying Eagles meet The Gambia team that is full of goals and ambition.

Nigeria managed a 1-0 defeat of Uganda in the quarterfinals after Group A victories over Mozambique (2-0) and Egypt (1-0) plus a 0-1 defeat by Senegal in their first game of the competition holding in Egypt.

Their opponents, The Gambia, on the other hand, defeated Tunisia I-0, Zambia (2-0) and Benin Republic 1-0 in Group C before demolishing South Sudan 5-0 in the quarterfinal. They and Senegal are the only teams without defeat so far in the competition.

Aware that his boys will face a well-organised side, whose main weapon is their potent attack, Flying Eagles Coach, Ladan Bosso, says he knows how to neutralise everything the Gambians would throw at them.

According to Bosso, “previous results will not determine what happens in our semifinal match against The Gambia. They have been in great form and my boys have also recovered well and are in their elements. It will be a great match, but I believe in my team and we are confident of playing in the Final on Saturday.”

Although in pedigree, The Gambia is rated far below Nigeria, Bosso acknowledges that there are no more minnows in football, including the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

He told CAF media, yesterday: “I’m happy to be back in Cairo once again after we played the last two matches in Ismailia. 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.”

The Flying Eagles last won the tournament in 2015 in Senegal and Bosso