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Flying Eagles aim to bounce back against Ivory Coast after losing to Burkina Faso in their opener.
The Nigeria's Flying Eagles are determined to secure a victory against Ivory Coast in their second Group A match of the 2024 WAFU Zone B U-20 Championship.
The team's media officer, Sharif Abdullah, has revealed that the players are highly motivated and focused on achieving a positive result.
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Following their 1-0 defeat to Burkina Faso in their opening match, the Flying Eagles are under pressure to win against Ivory Coast to stay in contention for the title and qualify for the 2025 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
Abdullah emphasised the high spirits within the camp and confirmed that the players have held a meeting to discuss their approach and draw inspiration from previous setbacks, where they were able to bounce back and achieve success.
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03:55 - 19.10.2024
Nigeria's Flying Eagles suffer shock defeat to Burkina Faso at WAFU B U-20 AFCON
In their WAFU B U-20 AFCON opening game, Nigeria's Flying Eagles were beaten 0-1 against Burkina Faso.
He said, “The spirit in the camp is extremely high; the boys know what is at stake is either a win or nothing. So, there are a lot of motivations. They have had a meeting among themselves, talking about how to draw inspiration from the defeat in the hands of Burkina Faso.
”They know what is at stake and are at the moment trying to do everything possible. The meeting with the team’s captain was about drawing inspiration from the previous occasions they overcame the setback.
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“We’ve had the same setback in Egypt, and at the end of the day we bounced back and qualified for the World Cup in Argentina. It happened to us during the Africa Games, where we lost the first game to Senegal and we bounced back against Uganda. It has happened not once, not twice, so it is left for us to draw some inspiration.
“This is what they discussed under the leadership of the team’s captain, Daniel Bameyi. The spirit is very high, and of course these boys want to, by all means, get the desired result against their Ivorian counterparts.”
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Meanwhile, Head coach Aliyu Zubairu attributed the loss to Burkina Faso to the physicality of the opponents as he believed that the Flying Eagles will need to adapt their game plan to counter Ivory Coast's fast and gritty approach.
The WAFU B U-20 Championship serves as the qualifying tournament for the 2025 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. Only the finalists will qualify for the continental tournament, which will also serve as the African qualifiers for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.
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