Nigeria U20 coach Manu Garba says his team is ready to defeat Ghana or Mali fin the semi-finals opponents at the ongoing African Youth Championship in Senegal after the Flying Eagles sealed top spot in Group A.
The Flying Eagles’ handler's side will play either Ghana or Mali in the semi-finals who are already through to the last four as the clash between the two sides on Sunday will determine who finishes top of Group B.
Garba, whose team held their Ivorian counterparts to a two-all draw in the final group game in Mbour on Saturday, stated this a post match conference.
Nigeria will play the second placed team in Group B as the result of the match between Ghana and Mali will determine who takes on the Flying Eagles but their coach said he is ready to ready any of the two countries.
Garba said: “We came to Senegal to win the trophy, so we would be ready to face any opposition in the next round of matches. We are not scared of either Ghana or Mali.
“We just want to play our games and win. “Our initial plans was to win all matches but now that we drew against Cote d’ Ivoire, we would redesign our strategies for the remaining games and I can assure you that we would come out better.â€
On his assessment on the Ivorians, Garba opined that the Ivorians have a quality team but are unlucky not to make it into the next round of the tournament. He said: “The Ivorians are well known to us. “We have played them a couple of times and we understand their style of play.
“They like to sit back and hit you on the counter.
“You will agree with me that we conceded two quick goals due to defensive error but all that would be corrected before our next game.
“We also made about four changes in our starting line up and I believe some of the new players are new to the settings and that cost us the slow start in the game. “However, we hope to move on strong in our subsequent game here in Senegal.â€