Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets will be gunning for their second win at the African U17 Championship in Niger on Wednesday when they face their Guinean counterparts.
It is a straight battle for one of the semifinal tickets in Group A after both teams won their opening games Nigeria beat hosts Niger 2-0, while Guinea beat Zambia 1-0 in what was considered a much better display than what the Eaglets showed.
Both teams have met twice in this competition in 1995 when Nigeria won 2-1 in a group game and drew 2-2 in another group game in 2001.
They were billed to clash in the final in 2001, but Guinea were disqualified due to a FIFA ban on them for government interference in football running and replaced by Burkina Faso, who Nigeria thrashed 3-0.
Guineans best shot in this competition was reaching the 2001 final and winning bronze medal in 1995 edition.
The top-of-the-table clash at the Stade General Seyni Kountche starts at 3pm and the winner will automatically become the first African flag bearers at the FIFA U-17 World Cup finals in Chile later in the year.
Nigeria Football Federation , NFF director of competitions, Mohammed Sanusi, who is in Niamey with the team, said a victory is non-negotiable as Nigeria look to book an early ticket to the finals in Chile to go and defend the world title.
“We are the champions of the world, and that we must underscore boldly here. The Eaglets did well to win their first match against the host nation despite all the odds against them. There is no way Guinea will stand up to our boys on Wednesday.
“The NFF have provided everything the team need to succeed and we expect nothing but victory against the Guineans.”
Meanwhile, Golden Eaglets coach Emmanuel Amuneke has warned  that Guinea will be tricky customers  in the  crucial CAF U17 Championship clash in Niamey
“We are not getting carried away after the victory against Niger because we know Guinea can be tricky after watching them against Zambia,” noted Amuneke.
“We came here with one objective: To qualify for the World Cup in Chile and after that we can begin to talk about other things.
You can see that if you allow them, they can play but if you follow our instructions, we would all have reason to celebrate  after the game.”
Already, the Nigerian camp has indentified gifted number 11-shirted Abddoulaye Jules Keita as the lynchpin in the Guinean line-up as well as captain Mohammed Mary Kurume who holds forth in defence, not forgetting agile goalkeeper Mousa Camara, who foiled Zambia repeatedly on Sunday.
The Guineans will seek to avenge their twin loss to their Nigerian counterparts on the road to the last championship in Morocco following a 3-0 and 4-0 win in Calabar and Conakry, respectively.