AYC: W/Cup Ticket Nothing, If We’re Not Champions

Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has said that there will be no point in qualifying for the U20 World Cup if they do not come away with the AYC title in Senegal.
Nigeria faces perennial rivals Ghana in today’s AYC semifinal in Dakar.
“There will really be no point qualifying for the World Cup, if we cannot go there as champions of Africa,” said Manu ahead of the semifinal.
“Our tournament starts with this game and we have to be prepared to win it so as to stay on track for our main target, which is to be champions of Africa.
“This is the final before the final, it will even be tougher than the final.”
Nigeria finished top of Group A with Seven points from three matches, while Ghana finished as runners-up in Group B with six points.
Nigeria and Ghana have met five times in this competition with Ghana having the upper hand, winning four of the previous meetings in 1985 (2-0), 1993 (1-0), 1999 (1-0) and 2001 (4-1) while Nigeria won in 2011 (2-1)
The Flying Eagle are seeking a seventh title, while Ghana are gunning for their fourth championship
Interestingly, both the Flying Eagles and the Black Satellites clashed last month in two warm-up matches in Ghana.
The first match ended in a 2-2 draw in Accra and the second, which was played in Tema, was won 2-0 by Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles returned from Mbour to the Alafifa Hotel in Dakar Monday afternoon ahead of today’s showdown.