After falling in their first game of the U20 AFCON, former coach of Nigeria's cadet team (Golden Eaglets) Manu Garba believes it is not the end of the road for the Flying Eagles yet while hinting on what they can do to qualify for FIFA U20 World Cup, Nigeriasoccernet.com can report.
The Flying Eagles fell by a lone goal to Senegal in their opening U20 AFCON game campaign but with two games left to end the round, they can still qualify.
Speaking exclusively to BSNSports, Manu Garba who was part of the coaching crew that won the tournament in 2015 in Senegal admitted that losing the first match dealt a big blow on their 8th title pursuit but believe Ladan Bosso team has the capacity to turn things around.
"The Flying Eagles can still qualify from the group despite slim loss to Senegal in first match," Garba said.
"All they need to do is to beat the host Egypt with any goal margin and also defeat Mozambique in their last group game to qualify for the knockout stage. In fact, they can still qualify with four points. That means, they can win one and draw one on their next two matches, the FIFA U17 World Cup winner added.
"It's very important for a team to win the first match in an international competition like this or at least get a draw. But all hope is not lost because I believe they can still come back stronger.
"They had decent preparations winning all their friendly matches including beating Zambia U20 Team before the commencement of the tournament. Sometimes, football in not predictable.
"They just need to be more composed in their next match to be able to win and focus on their last match against Mozambique. "
The Flying Eagles will take on host Egypt on Wednesday.
Egypt meanwhile, drew their opening game with Mozambique.
By Oluwayemi Omolagba