Olympic Eagles head coach Imama Amapakabo is hopeful the arrival of Okechukwu Azubuike and Taiwo Awoniyi will help turn around the fortunes of the team following the 1-0 defeat to Cote d’Ivoire in their first game at the 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Eagles will take on Zambia in a make or mar encounter at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo on Tuesday (today).
The defending champions must pick up the maximum points to return to contention for a place in the semi-finals of the competition, ahead of their final Group B clash with South Africa on Friday.
“I am happy we now have Awoniyi and our captain, Azubuike. They are integral to the team and were influential in our qualifying matches. We will throw everything into the game against Zambia because we have left ourselves no choice at this point,” Imama told NFF website.
“I believe we have the team to not only overcome Zambia but go all the way in the tournament. We stumbled against the Ivorians but we have learnt from that and we now look forward to rescuing our campaign against the Zambians and South Africans.”
Only the top three finishers at the U-23 AFCON will qualify to fly Africa’s flag at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Tokyo, Japan next year.