Flying Eagles target World Cup ticket against Uganda

The Head Coach of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles, Ladan Bosso, has expressed confidence in the ability of his boys to push Uganda’s Hippos off the way in their Africa U-20 Cup of Nations quarter-final duel on Thursday, March 2 and reach the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.

Speaking ahead of the match, Bosso said while he does not underrate the Hippos, he trusts his charges to make Nigeria proud and reach the tournament’s last four.

“Before we left our training camp in Morocco, the NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau told us clearly that the first objective should be getting a ticket to the FIFA World Cup. We are at that most important stage now and we cannot afford to falter.

“We are aware that Nigerians are looking up to us to deliver. While our mission remains bagging the World Cup ticket, we are also eyeing the trophy, which is still a number of matches away. For the moment, we have Uganda in our view and we are working hard to see that we control proceedings on Thursday.”

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Two-time silver medallists and one-time bronze medallists, the Flying Eagles are seeking to make another appearance at the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals.

They finished in third place when the tournament was staged in then USSR in 1985, beating the host nation on penalty shoot-out in the bronze medal match.

Four years later, in Saudi Arabia, the Flying Eagles lost 0-2 to Portugal in a classic Final in Riyadh. And in 2005, Lionel Messi and Argentina were 2-1 winners in the Final match in The Netherlands. 

Meanwhile, the Hippos of Uganda finished top of their Group B which also included Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

They defeated Central African Republic 2-1, and drew 2-2 and 0-0 with Congo and South Sudan respectively.

It took a drawing of lots by the Confederation of African Football to separate Uganda and Congo and determine the winner of Group B, as both teams finished with the same statistics.