Manu Garba Wants Big Opening Day Win At AYC

Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba has said he hopes for a convincing win over hosts Senegal in Sunday’s opening match at the 2015 AYC in Dakar.

“We want to win convincingly because in any tournament your opening match is very crucial. It will boost your confidence,” said Manu.

“With the U17s (2013 CAF U17 Championship), we started very well by beating Ghana 6-1 before we went all the way to the final.

“We also trounced Mexico 5-1 in our opening match at the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup and then went on to win the tournament.

“This is how we wish to start the competition in Senegal, even though we respect and do not underrate our opponents, who will be playing at home in front of their fans.”

The coach added: “We want to win all our matches and by implication it means we want to be champions in Senegal and go to the World Cup in New Zealand as African champions.”

The Flying Eagles will be one of the youngest squads at this year’s tournament after promoting as many as eight players from the U17 team who won the U17 World Cup in United Arab Emirates two years ago.

Striker Taiwo Awoniyi scored four goals and provided as many assists on the way to Nigeria’s fourth U17 World Cup triumph.

He said his personal target is to score in all the matches in Senegal 2015.

“I will always play for the team but I wish to score in every match at this tournament,” said the lanky top striker.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria U20 team will train at the 45,000-capacity Leopold Sedar Senghor, the venue for Sunday’s match against the host country, by 4.30pm local time later Friday.

The training will be for an hour.

They will round up their training for the match on Saturday morning at the Stade Iba Mar Diop in Dakar.

Time will be 8am local time.