BY SUNDAY AKINTOYE/Accra, Ghana
The battle for semifinal ticket would begin Friday night (9pm Nigeria Time) when Flying Eagles face Young Teranga Lion of Senegal in all important last group match.
Although Nigeria football team just need at least a draw to book a place in the semifinal based on superior goals over Senegal.
In the result matches played so far in the group, Senegal beat South Sudan 1-0 in their opener but lost 0-1 to Uganda in the second match.
On the other, Nigeria lost 1-2 to Uganda and managed to beat South Sudan 1-0 in their second match. Uganda have won their two matches and just need a draw against South Sudan to top the group in their last match.
Our correspondent who has been monitoring Flying Eagles training noted that the boys are in high spirits and ready to go for victory in their last game.
Flying Eagles tutored, Ladan Bosso cannot afford to lose tomorrow match knowing full well that a defeat to them would end their dreams of reaching the medal zone.
What would help Nigeria in tomorrow encounter is U-20 goalie, Nathaniel Ikechukwu Nwosu of Water FC whose performance against South Sudan caught the attention of foreign scouts.
Nathaniel made some crucial saves that saved Nigeria from embarrassing defeat. He saved close range shot, one on one ball with opponents and Nathaniel is good on area ball.
Senegal would find it difficult to break Nigerian defence and with the good form of Nathaniel, Flying Eagles stand the chance to qualify for the semifinal stage.
In the attacking line, the likes of Sadiq Isiyaka, Ibrahim Musa, Rabiu Abdullahi, Sunday Joseph and Sulaiman Ibrahim gave a good account of themselves against South Sudan, but one major problem of these players are inability to convert their scoring chances.
On Tuesday, Bosso took his time to focus more on the shooting and told the players how they can be clinical in the front of goal.
Speaking on the Nigeria missed scoring chances on the field of play, Bosso said he is one of the challenges his team facing but noted that his strikers are improved on goal scoring at the training.
“Of course, we missed some scoring chances against South Sudan and Uganda. The players also are not playing cohesive football. We only had 13 days to prepare before we arrived in Ghana.
“As a coach I need to identify grey area and one of our grey areas is poor finishing on the part of the players and that is why I took my time to concentrate more on shooting at the training before our next game,” he said.
In addition, Nigeria players must go for early goal to demoralize their opponents and scuttle their game plans. An early goal foe Nigeria would ease the pressure and allow the players to excel in the encounter.
Meanwhile, Nigeria Flying Eagles would round off their training session this evening in preparation for tomorrow clash.
