Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will face Burkina Faso on Saturday in their final Group B clash at the WAFU B U17 Championship in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, with head coach Manu Garba insisting his young side is ready to step up again, Soccernet.ng reports.
The five-time world champions opened their campaign in style, sweeping aside Benin Republic 4-1 after scoring four goals inside the first 35 minutes.
That emphatic win left Garba optimistic of another strong showing against the Baby Stallions.
“Every team wants to win every match in a competitive tournament, and so does Nigeria. We want to try as much as possible to win every match in this competition and by winning every match, we will be champions of the WAFU-B again because that is where my team belongs,” Garba said at Friday’s press conference.
“We are here to play every match according to the laws of the game, but most importantly, we want to try as much as possible to win the match against Burkina Faso,” he added.
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The coach, who guided Nigeria to U17 World Cup glory in 2013, admitted this group is still learning, with none of the players having featured in the last edition in Ghana.
“My boys did very well against the Benin Republic. I did say that, that was their first international game. Most of these boys have never entered an airplane before coming to Côte d’Ivoire here. This is a new team. None of these boys featured the last time we played in the WAFU B U17 Championship in Ghana,” he explained.
Garba also confirmed that Golden Eaglets captain, who was forced off after taking an elbow to the chest against Benin, has recovered and is fit to face Burkina Faso.
The match kicks off at 4pm Nigeria time at the Stade Lycee Scientifique in Yamoussoukro.
Both Nigeria and Burkina Faso are already through to the semi-finals, having each beaten Benin, but the top spot is at stake.
A draw will be enough for the Eaglets to finish first on goal difference after Burkina Faso’s narrow 1-0 win over Benin. Topping the group would also allow Nigeria to avoid hosts Côte d’Ivoire in the last four, with the Young Elephants impressively winning both their games against Niger and Ghana.
