Nigeria is through to the final of the 2015 African U-20 Championship in Senegal after defeating Ghana 2-0 in the tournament’s first semi-final on Wednesday evening in Dakar.
Local pundits, most of who were rooting for the Black Satellites, slammed the Flying Eagles for their tactics of not showing great performances yet winning matches.
Nigeria captain, Muhammed Musa, who scored his side’s second goal against Ghana from the spot kick, said they would stick with their play pattern and always focus on the objectives.
“We’ve heard all those criticisms and not bothered by them at all. The most important thing when going out for a match is to win and we won. We didn’t stand still and had our ball rolled into their net. We played football and we scored,” Musa told supersport.com.
“We played our style. We kept them at bay and we had chances to penetrate their area and we found the back net.”
The 19-year-old defender of Abuja-based FC Hart is currently the tournament’s top scorer with four goals. He wanted to finish this edition with a golden shoe by hitting home one or more goals in the final on Sunday.
“I would love to remain on top of the scorer sheet and go home with the golden shoe. But it is not as easy as we talk. I need to score again, and not necessarily to win the award, but to help my team lift the trophy,” he said.
Nigeria will on Sunday face Senegal again in the final of the competition.
Senegal defeated Mali yesterday by 2-1 in the second semi-final.
…Team gets special treat from embassy
Following their impressive display at the ongoing African U-20 Championship, players and official of the Flying Eagles were being hosted to a dinner by the Nigerian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
The members of the team were treated to both Nigerian and continental dishes, just as Nigeria’s hit songs were dished out at the background at Embassy located at Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Senegal, Mrs. Katyen Jackden, who was at the team’s camp last week, expressed her delight at the boys performance, stressing that they would continue to support the team in their quest to win the African title in Senegal.
“You have proven to be good ambassadors and we are happy about your comportment on and off the pitch. We however assure that you will all the support that is required to lay your hands on the title.
“ You are going to enjoy more of this support as we have a lot of Nigerians here in Dakar that are residents and also come for businesses from home.
“We just want to encourage you to remain focused and by his grace, glory shall be ours,” the ambassador prayed.
…Set for European training tour
Members of the Flying Eagles have been assured to proceed on training tour of Europe after the ongoing African U20 championship in Senegal.
A stalwart of the Nigeria Football Federation, High Chief Emeka Inyama, who was in Dakar to cheer the Manu Garba led team to victory, gave this revelations shortly after Nigerian lads silenced their Ghanaian counterparts in the semi final at the AYC.
An elated Inyama assured that the team would enjoy all the necessary support from the federation to raise a formidable team that would vie for the U20 World Cup title in New Zealand.
His words: “We are happy that the team has proven to be worthy ambassadors and have shown tremendous discipline in and out of the pitch.
So, they deserve all our support and we would ensure the team lacks nothing in the quest to make the country proud.
“We would ensure that they embark on European trips in order to get the ready for the challenge at the World Cup and also facilitate the release of some of the players that are needed to beef up the team.”
Inyama, however, declined mentioning the likely countries in Europe that are being planned for the training tour.
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