Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have been handed a tough draw for the 2024 WAFU B U-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tournament in Togo.
Aliyu Zubairu’s side are drawn in Group B with Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.
Hosts Togo will face Niger Republic, Ghana and Benin Republic in Group A.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-final.
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Togo will host the competition next month.
South Africa will host the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in January.
The competition will serve as the qualifier for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
The Flying Eagles started preparations for the WAFU Championship three weeks ago in Abuja.
By Adeboye Amosu
9 Comments
No easy game for Nigeria,Ghana so lucky with the draw..
I hope the Nigerian gaffer travelled round the country to pick players for this tournament otherwise we will prosecute our games with a team not representing the true strength of our country at this level..
I doubt if 1 month will be enough to “travel round the country” to pick players. Not talking of the amount of time he would need to screen, select his final 18 or 20 and get them to gel as a team in readiness for such a big tournament.
I really do not envy our u20 and u17 national team coaches.
Our tight accountant Nff president doing the same thing everyday and expecting a different outcome pathetic!!
If you like block me Nigeria will not qualify for World cup because of Eguavoen
Ghana and Togo don rig this draw. Cheap flings corruption is their order of the day. I pray Benin will shock them that’s if they allow referee to be honest. NFF will continue to be useless that is why everything is upside down, What happened to Zonal seeding now that the clowns have reduced everything to Zonal qualifiers when we all know that the talents lie in West Africa before the zonal rubbish started. I hope they also start zoning Caf champions league for men. West Africans are being bullied by the rest of the world and shamefully Nigeria is the most robbed country by officials because I can not remember the last time aside the Benin 4-0 win when a ref was honest with Nigeria not at receiving end of dubious calls.
These present-day Nigeria cadets teams, both male and female spend little or no time together good enough to impact tactical play and discipline. Compared to the days of Brodricks, Odumezue, and Fanny Amu. We all saw the type of football they played and their tactical prowess. These teams are selected from home-based players, so they could start training 12 months to time by having one week every month before the main camping period. You invite the foreign-based players during this time to compete for positions you have doubts about. During this last Fifa women under 20 World Cup, you could see how the Japanese played, their tactical prowess and discipline, the only edge they had over us, and got the victory. This microwave approach is not helping us at all. Manu Garba and Emmanuel Amunikes teams played good football because they had the time to impact the team maximally.
This NFF should be looked into urgently.
Well said Philipido.
Our underage teams used to spend months in camp in times past. Its even on record that Manu’s U17 squad of 2013 played 78 matches together from when he was appointed till when they eventually won the U17WC. Pray tell me why such a team will not score 100% in team chemistry and understanding.
Fanny Amun’s 1993 squad too was together for over 18 months….culminating in their U17 win.
However since the stingy pennywise pound foolish Garba burst into the NFF scene, we now have coaches being appointed 2-3 weeks to tournaments when our opponents are already rounding up their own preparations.
It’s really really unfortunate the careers of so many youngsters are being killed with NFF’s anyhowness while the SE feels the brunt in the long run. We have not had a decent u23 for nearly a decade now…whereas the u23 team is supposed to be the defacto SE B team, fed majorly by the previous U20s, some from the u17s and other breakout prospects within that season or the previous.
…Gusau I meant to say….