The Nigerian U-17 last faced the Zambians in 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Group A tie where they won 3 goals to 1
The head of the Golden Eaglets, Nduka Ugbade, has disclosed that the Nigerian U-17 team anticipates a challenging match in their Africa Cup of Nations opener, Soccernet.ng understands.
In their first Group B encounter, the Nigerian youth will square off against Ian Bakala's team this afternoon at the Mohamed Hamlaoui Stadium.
The Golden Eaglet manager claims that he is aware of how strong the Southern Africans are as a team and that his players must be ready for their threats.
In a pre-tournament match, the Zambian team beat Senegal 4 goals to 2 prior to the event. Despite acknowledging how talented the opposition's players are, Ugbade insisted that his team is ready for the match.
“We only heard that when they came here they played Senegal also, and they won 4-2 then, like we've always had concerning Zambia, I played against Zambia on several occasions while I was in the under-20 and the senior national team in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations as well, that we want to win 2-1.
“I've always known that every nation in that group, South Africa, Zambia and Morocco are a great nation, and they played so well. We know they are surely going to be good. But we will come against them, and we expect them to come against us, so, in the end, most probably, the best team will get the victory.”
The 53-year-old also said that Nigeria has a very good squad at the young level and that the Nigerian team is on track to win their third AFCON championship, but the issue for his side is facing Zambia.
“Nigeria is a very strong team at the Youth Level because we have built a lot of capacity to meet up the demand. But the issue here is that Zambia is as well a very wonderful Nation”
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The Nigerian U-17s and Zambian U-17s last faced off in the 2015 AFCON competition, where Nigeria prevailed 3 goals to 1.
