The head coach of the U20 side has urged his compatriots to put the country’s representatives in Senegal in their prayers after they were handed a tough draw
Manu Garba, coach of the Nigeria U20 team, has said that the Flying Eagles will aim at winning the African Youth Championship title in Senegal as well as qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup next year after they were paired against Senegal, Cote d’ Ivoire and Congo in Sunday’s draw.
Garba was at the helm when the Golden Eaglets defeated Mexico 3-0 in the final of the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and he has chosen to promote most of the players that represented Nigeria last year at the cadet championship for the U20 AYC.
In an exclusive chat with Goal on Sunday night, Garba said that his hope is to ensure that the Flying Eagles qualify for the World Cup as African champions and he has enjoined Nigerians both home and abroad to pray for the team’s success in Senegal in March.
The coach affirmed that he was following proceedings and was able to get identities of Nigeria’s opponents at the AYC immediately at the end of the draws held in Cairo, Egypt the headquarters of Caf on Sunday.
He hinted that all the three teams paired along the Flying Eagles are no minnows to the AYC and that making an appreciable impact in Senegal would be paramount on his mind but he asserted that prayers of Nigerians also has a great role to play in his bid to ensure that the country secures her first FIFA U20 World Cup title in New Zealand next year.
“I am aware that we have Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Congo in our group during the AYC. We are not by anyway perturbed because we know that we must play against the best to ensure that we qualify for the World Cup. We are going to Senegal with the intention of emerging as African champions before going to the World Cup.
“We appeal to Nigerians to pray for our success in Senegal because we cannot do anything without prayers. We will ensure we do our part and we are also urging Nigerians to complement our effort by putting us in their prayers all the time,” Garba told Goal.
