Flying Eagles coach Ladan Bosso has described Nigeria’s tough group at the WAFU B U-20 qualifying tournament as ‘a blessing in disguise’, adding that he is confident Nigeria will advance to the continental competition under his watch.
Nigeria, 7-time winners of the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations were on Tuesday drawn in Group B of the zonal qualifiers of the 2021 event alongside the Junior Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire, as well as arch rivals and 3-time champions, the Black Satellites of Ghana.
“Everybody is going there (Togo) to compete for a slot. We are in the same group with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire and I believe it is a blessing in disguise,” the former El-Kanemi Coach told brila.net.
“People will look at it as a tough group knowing fully that even the smaller countries are even tougher when it comes to football, depending on the mindset of the players.
“As a coach, we are training for competition not just for one match. It’s going to be a good outing – qualify from this group and move to the next group. And when you are used to the terrain, you should be able to, at least, do something that will make everybody happy with you in the country.”
Bosso was last month appointed coach of the Flying Eagles for a second time. In his first appointment, he led Nigeria to the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.
This time around, the Flying Eagles gaffer, who is also the President of the Nigerian Football Coaches Association, aims at qualifying the team for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia next year.