Flying Eagles’ coach, Aliyu Zubairu is staying upbeat for a sterling outing at the impending African U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt, despite growing concern over the absence of grade-A build-up matches for his side.
Sports247 gathered that Zubairu’s side, whose final squad list for the competition was released on Thursday, will this Sunday fly out to Egypt for the last lap of their preparations, but they appear set to play clubs, instead of countries, in their remaining build-up games.
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The coach hinted as much while giving an update on his preparations for the competition, which begins on April 28th, as he acknowledged that officials of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are yet to finalise plans to stage friendly matches for the team on April 23rd and 26th.
Zubairu, though affirmed that he and his players remain fully focused on their target of picking a ticket to the FIFA U20 World Cup, which he described as their priority for the U20 AFCON in Egypt, where they will tango Tunisia, Kenya and Morocco in Group B.
The tactician, who is also the coach of El-Kanemi Warriors FC of Maiduguri, added: “We are going for the World Cup ticket first. By the time we get to the semi-finals, we will then think of what will be good for the country. But, for now, the World Cup ticket is our priority.”
Zubairu then spoke about the NFF’s plan to have the team play two friendly matches before the competition begins, as he said: “We will have one on the 23rd and another on the 26th. The countries we are going to play? The federation is still in touch with them.
“The talks have not been finalised but, all the same, even if we do not have those countries to play against, though I still believe, hopefully we’ll get them, we will have enough clubs to play with.”
He concluded with a view that playing against Egyptian club sides would equally give the Flying Eagles a feel of what facing a North African national team would be like, following which he believes his players will be in a much better frame of mind to take on Tunisia and Morocco when the chips come down at the U20 AFCON.
“We are equal to the task. We have two North African countries in our group. So, playing any team in Egypt will be as good as playing against a North African country,” Zubairu assured any doubting Thomas.
