An attacking midfielder in Nigeria’s under-20 national team, Flying Eagles, Divine Oliseh is taking stock of their conquest of the WAFU B qualifiers and believes a warning signal has been sent to all opponents they will face at next year’s continental championship.
Reaching the sub-regional qualifiers’ final in Lome, Togo meant the Flying Eagles will be at the 2025 Africa U20 Cup of Nations, but Divine declared in an interview with sports247.ng that going their as WAFU B champions adds more panache to Nigeria’s pedigree.
While pointing out that inexperience made them lose their first game, the youngster acknowledged that their outing in Lome turned out to be very successful, despite them opening with a setback against Burkina Faso.
Oliseh affirmed, “I will say it was a good tournament for us.
“Though we lost our first game, we came back to defend the title, and we won it again.
“We lost our first game because, for most of us, it was our first competitive match in the national team.
“The pressure on us was much for the first game. But, after we lost that match, we came out fully for the next one.”
He then spoke about factors that marked the change of fortune for Coach Aliyu Zubairu’s team and gave plaudits to all the players for a job well done.
“We were determined not to lose again, and that was the spirit that helped us in the second game. It also helped us in the next two matches.
“This victory is now sending a signal to the AFCON and other teams that will be playing against us.
“We won the last edition of this WAFU B competition, and now we’ve come back to win it again. We are sending a signal for them to imagine what we can do at the AFCON,” Oliseh enthused.
He and his colleagues will now eagerly await an announcement by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) about the host country for next year’s U20 AFCON.
A choice will soon be made between Morocco and South Africa to host the championship, from which the four semi-finalists will qualify automatically for Chile 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup.
