FLYING Eagles’ Head Coach, Manu Garba, on Wednesday in Abuja insisted his team was not yet ready for the 2015 African Youth Championship (AYC) in Senegal.
Garba’s insistence was in spite of his team winning their third straight match at the Super 4 Invitational Tournament by beating Warri Wolves FC 1-0 on Matchday Three.
Under-20 national team has defeated Premier League champions Kano Pillars,
Federation Cup holders, Enyimba International and Warri Wolves FC.
The Flying Eagles, who have been preparing for the AYC in Kaduna, beat Enyimba 2-0 and won 2-1 against Pillars, before pipping Warri Wolves 1-0.
“I must admit that we are not yet ready for the AYC, because we have noticed a couple of mistakes that we need to correct.
“We created a lot of goal scoring chances which we failed to convert, and that means it’s important that we correct this,’’ the coach said.
He however assured that the team’s technical crew would look into the problem as soon as it had the opportunity to do so.
“We shall be going to Gambia to finalise our preparations for the AYC. It is after this that we can say the team is fully ready for Africa,’’ Garba said.
He however admitted that fatigue was setting in, and promised to bring in more players in their next game against Dolphins on Friday.
“It is risky to make more than four changes in a squad, and our two central defenders were playing together in a match for the first time today (Wednesday).
“One came in for the injured Izu Omego. So, we will look to make more changes to the squad to ensure that everyone gets a feel of the tournament’’ he said.
The Flying Eagles should however have their hands full on Sunday when they take on the under-23 national team, Dream Team VI, on Sunday in their final match at the tournament.
Their senior side have not lost any match so far in the tournament.
However, before then, they will need to beat Dolphins of Port Harcourt on Friday, if they intend to maintain their 100 per cent record.
Garba was however not thinking about the two games for now, as he said his strategy was to take each game as they come.
“For us, we always want to win every game we go into. So, playing and winning the Super 4 will boost the morale of the team, going into a major tournament like the AYC.
“But I must say that we take every game as it comes.
“We will respect them (the Dream Team VI) as our senior colleagues, but we intend to win,’’ the coach stated.
Speaking also, Taiwo Awoniyi, captain of the team, said the team’s aim remained winning all their matches in the tournament.
“Even though I missed a lot of scoring opportunities in this match against Warri Wolves, our aim has always been to win, and we shall continue to strive to do so, no matter our opponents,’’ he said.
The tournament which began on January 24 will end on February 1.
