Ahead of the TotalEnergies U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, chief coach of Golden Eaglets, Nduka Ugbade has stated that his team will not just be participating but will strongly compete to the very end for the trophy and also for a World Cup place.
Two times winner of the competition, Nigeria are drawn in Group B as the Golden Eaglets will be based in the city of Constantine alongside Morroco, South Africa and Zambia, Sports247.ng reports.
Speaking ahead of the competition to reveal the team’s readiness, Ugbade has this to say;
“It’s quiet interesting that it’s like this now why because, the tie has been cast and there’s no going back. Morroco is a team that is known from North Africa and the North African football is known to me very well.”
“Considering what they’ve just done at the World Cup and we all in Africa are proud of, I think the U-17 will be motivated to do this as well because in recent times, they’ve been playing in some friendly matches in preparation for this competition,” he explained.
“The issue of South African football that has suddenly exploded into a footballing nation is suppose to get us to be worried a bit”
“Zambia that we have always known for good footballing, these three nations are from the high altitude so they will have enough strength, enough speed, endurance, power to compete.”
“Knowing how many times we have won it and knowing that we are one of the favorites, we will not look at the group alone inasmuch that the first thing that we need to counter is our first match, win all group stage games, qualify for the quarter finals, win that as well and go further to establishing some authorities in the semi final and see if we get to the final what would happen.”
“We know that if we win the fourth match beyond the group matches, and quarter finals, surely, we’ve qualified for the World Cup,” Ugbade optimistically allayed.
“All competing nations are strong, as you know in WAFCON, we met Burkina Faso in the finals and we are not going to remove DR Congo as well from the equation, they have a rich culture and strong passion for football.”
“We will not be participating, we will be competing and in our competitiveness, we will join the contenders because we are already a strong nation that is known to have won the trophy on several occasions, I don’t think that this will be the difference.”
“If you are going to a competition and you do not not have fear, then you are not prepared. We have fear but not the one that will cripple, it’s the one that will create unbelievable performance when we have the opportunity to face any team in the competition,” he concluded.
