The Nigeria U20 MNT have been plain sailing since the defeat to Senegal in the group stage of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Since falling 1-0 to he Young Lions of Senegal, Nigeria’s Flying Eagles dusted themselves up and have now won three games on the bounce.
The first mission of the team was to clinch the World Cup ticket, and that objective achieved following the 1-0 quarter-final win over Uganda, thanks to an Ibrahim Juma own-goal.
While the attack hasn’t really kicked into full gear, the defense is a totally different story. Despite raves of attacks by the Ugandans the team worked well as a unit and delivered to keep the team’s third clean sheet in four games.
After sealing their semi-final spot, as well as the FIFA U20 World Cup qualification, the objective has now shifted to winning the tournament.
Gambia will be a more scary opposition to come up against, they are on a great run of three straight wins and clean sheets. They are also unbeaten in eight of their last ten games winning seven of them and conceding just three goals within that run.
Gambia will be favourites against South Sudan and are likely to be Nigeria’s next opponents in the semis, however, South Sudan can’t be totally written off.
Regardless of the opposition, it will not be an easy test for the Flying Eagles.
There is also a possibility of a Nigeria and Senegal clashing in the final, and the Flying Eagles will be aiming to get one over their West African counterparts.
