Coach Zubair Aliyu had a exclusive interview with Sports247 live in Lome Togo after the exhilarating final match triumph over Ghana.
The coach opens up on his experience as the gaffer of the team, how he manages to conquer the region despite taking over the job at a short notice to the competition.
He also takes a look at the future of the team, especially the 2025 U20 Africa Cup of Nations coming up in South Africa and how he has been able to act in his double role as Elkanemi Coach as well as manger of the Flying Eagles.
Enjoy the one on one session.
Sports 247: What does this victory mean to you ?
Zubair: Thank you very much. It means a lot to me , when I was the given the job, a lot of people congratulating me ,I told them they should rather sympathise with me considering the little time we have to prepare for the competition, starting from scratch.
We only had one month to prepare the team that was the fear with which I took the job and we started gradually and look at where we are today, in fact I am very happy , very delighted.
Sports247: What did you tell the players after losing the first match to Burkina Faso for them to cope with the pressure and went to qualify and won the championship
Zubair: The major problem we encountered in this championship was the first match we lost. . Immediately we lost the match, the first thing we did was to collect their phones, I instructed the CSO to collect their phones so they would not go to social media and see the comments of Nigerians knowing it could weigh them down.
I began to give them some pep talk , motivating them, gave them some instances like Argentina that lost their first game at the last World Cup against Saudi Arabia and eventually they won the World cup, so they can do the same because I believe in them I know what they can do .
It’s just for the fact that we couldn’t have any international friendly to play, they don’t have the experience of playing of what does another country look like so the match against Burkina Faso was like a curtain raiser and so immediately they overcame that one and we can see the result.
Sports247: How were you able to pick these superb set of players with that short time ?
My philosophy or my belief about young players did not change and when I was assembling the players and knowing that the time is too short, I had to go for players that will fit into my philosophy.
But when we started people are saying these boys are too small and going to WAFU and we come into the competition. Truly if you look at the age and sizes of most of these countries,you will know that Nigeria is parading one of the youngest, may be Togo is another country that is parading young players but since I understood what I wanted from them, and they were responding to training I knew definitely they were going to excel.
I knew the right players that I needed and I went straight for the players.
Sports247: There are some deficiencies noticed in the team. Will you be throwing the camp open to new players in order to fix It ?
No, It is not going to be an open camp. Since there is a structure on ground but we can do addition and subtraction. If there is any better player than the one in the team, we will always go for the best, if the player is eligible and they are Nigerians. We want the best at every level.
Sports247: What’s your target for U20 AFCON in South Africa?
Zubair: Our first target for the U-20 Nations Cup in South Africa is to get the World Cup ticket which is reaching the semi -final stage.
If we do that then we are going to talk about the next thing.
Sports247: What are you expecting from the NFF in terms of preparations and friendly matches ahead of the U20 AFCON ?
We want to start our preparation early because we had a short time for the preparation for the WAFU B Championship.
For instance Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso had a tour of Europe before this tournament and they prepared their team for more than six months.
So I’m appealing for early preparation and playing some international friendlies so that we can be well equipped in terms of readiness for the championship in south Africa.
Sports247: Are you not distracted by combining the Elkanemi Warriors with the Flying Eagles Job?
Zubair: I’m not distracted by El Kanemi Warriors’job. That is why the team is performing and I have a good assistant coach handling El kanemi and we have a structure in place with me or without me in charge, the team will continue to perform we have 9 games unbeaten run this season so far.
Sports247: Thanks for your time with us , It’s a pleasure talking to you we wish the team all the best in their next engagement
Zubair: Thanks. The pleasure is mine.
