Seven-time champions Nigeria will come up against another North African opponent, Morocco, on Sunday (today) in their second group game of this year’s U-20 AFCON, as both teams seek an early passage into the quarter-finals in Egypt, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Nigeria and Morocco head into the top-of-the-table Group B encounter after recording wins in their respective opening matches and a win for either side at the 30 June Air Defence Stadium, Cairo, guarantees early progression into the last eight.
Nigeria edged Tunisia 1-0 on Thursday and Morocco beat Kenya 3-2 in a five-goal thriller.
The Flying Eagles are led by head coach Aliyu Zubairu, who will be hoping that his team can carry their physical dominance and pressing game, which they employed throughout their triumph in the WAFU B into this duel.
Ahead of the encounter, the El-Kanemi Warriors coach has said his team can match the foreign experiences of their opponents.
“We have five players from Europe, and I think that’s a reasonable number. Three of them were on the pitch today, and two of them were on the bench. It’s not that they’re underperforming, but sometimes they need to understudy the tactical approach of the team,” he explained. “They didn’t have the opportunity to be in preparation as it is, but they are doing well.”
After Morocco, Nigeria will have one more group game against Kenya next week but the Flying Eagles would hope to progress as quickly as possible and also pick the FIFA U-20 World Cup ticket by reaching the semi-finals – what Zubairu has called their first task before aiming for an eighth title.
Nigeria have won the tournament seven times (1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2005, 2011, 2015) and were runners-up twice.
Today’s game will kick off at 6 pm Nigerian time.
