We’ve got a winning team, Flying Eagles coach Bosso says

Ladan Bosso, Coach of Nigeria’s under-20 national football team, the Flying Eagles, says he’s got a winning team that is capable of doing the country proud at the forthcoming Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Flying Eagles, on Friday in Abuja, overpowered their Zambian counterparts, the Junior Chipolopolo, 4-2, at the end of a thrilling international friendly.

Bosso told newsmen in a post-match interview that the match against Zambia was a good test match for his team, adding that his boys gave a good account of themselves and showed they are ready to take on the rest of Africa.

“It was a good test match for my boys and even if we had lost, I would have said it is a blessing in disguise.

“It’s natural sometimes, it’s either you win, lose or draw, especially in friendly matches such as this.

“You don’t need to approach it very hard or throw in all your cards in at once,” he said.

“As a coach, you don’t exhaust your armoury in the first half. The second half was more of wing play and you could see that the two goals that came were all from the wings.

“We have a winning team and our goal is to maintain our philosophy, culture and style of play as a team and go ahead to make our country proud,” he said.

On the goalkeeping errors made by Nathaniel Nwosu, the coach said: “It’s all about pyshce. Nwosu started with us.

“He was the goalkeeper of the tournament in WAFU and when we came back he was invited to the Super Eagles camp and eventually played for the U-23.

“So, he is not someone you can just throw away. However, the challenge before him is huge.

“I believe with what has happened in this particular match, he is aware that he has a lot of work to do,” he said.

He noted that the synergy in the team was strong, adding that the team had gone through a lot of hardwork and training to get to the level where they are now.

“You can see that the boys are improving and adapting rapidly with each game. The most improved players in the team are Yahaya Abubakar and Haliru Sarki.

“What we did was to itemise the problems, strengths and weaknesses of every player that went with us to WAFU and worked on them.

“That is why it would be difficult for any player to come from anywhere to breakthrough into this team now because the synergy is already there,” he said.

The Flying Eagles who are seven-time champions of Africa and champions of the WAFU B U-20 Championship, have been drawn to play hosts Egypt, Senegal and Mozambique in Group A of the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.

The 2023 Africa Under-20 Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place in Egypt from Feb. 19 to March 11.