Silver medal-winning coach of the Flying Eagles at the 2005 FIFA U20 World Cup in Netherlands, Samson Yebowei Siasia has opened up on what he believes the current set must do in order to beat South Africa on Thursday.
Sia1 spoke in his preview of the semi-finals’ clash between both countries at this year’s Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt, where he reckoned that full concentration, accuracy in front of goal and playing to the coach’s instructions should see Nigeria through at Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia.
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Sports247 reports further that Samson, who also won silver with Nigeria’s under-23 squad at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and bronze at Rio 2016 in Brazil, further declared that the Flying Eagles must not relax, despite having already qualified for this year’s U20 World Cup in Chile.
The former Super Eagles’ striker and two-time head coach of the Nigerian senior national team added, “They’ve done very well already, but that doesn’t mean they should relax.”
He further acknowledged that the ticket to Chile 2025 is a huge boost to the under-20 players and their coach, Aliyu Zubairu, but insisted that they must go a step further by trying to win the U20 AFCON trophy as well.
He added, “Qualifying for the World Cup is very, very important. It means there’s a lot of exposure for the young ones. That’s where the likes of (Victor) Osimhen excelled and, at the end of the day, see where they have got to.
“But, they shouldn’t relent in their efforts. They should go out there, make their corrections, move forward and listen to their coaches.”
He concluded by pointing out more areas that the crew and players need to work on in order to overcome the threat from South Africa, so that they would win Thursday’s game and play in the final this weekend in Cairo.
“The next game is ‘lose and go home.’ They’ve already qualified, but you can’t get to this stage and do not want to reach the final.
“So, they’ve done well; but they just have to prepare to play a little bit better. Just play to the coach’s instructions and, once you get your chances, you have to take them,” Siasia stressed.
