U17 Nations cup semis: forget about past victories Manu warns Eaglets

Ahead of their semifinal clash against Guinea U17 Wednesday, Eaglets coach Manu Garba has told his boys to forget past victories and treat the clash as final showdown.

While admitting that the achievements made so far at the on going championship in Tanzania is heartwarming, the party according to the former Flying Eagles coach must be put on hold to fight all the way to the final.

"We topped the group and we didn’t lose any match that is good, but we must put all that aside and give full concentration to the semifinal clash like I said will be very tactical, “he said

Guinea finished as runners up in Group B with six points in three games to set up semifinal clash against Nigeria.

 Garba who won the FIFA U-17 world cup in 2013 and the 2015 Africa U-20 championship in 2015, is hoping to add the U-17 Nations cup title to his resume. Nigeria last won the championship in 2007 in Togo, finished as runners up in 2013 in Morocco, and in the 4th place in the 2015 edition in Niamey.

 In comparison Guinea's highest level in the championship has been the third place finish. Interestingly the West African country have finished in the third place three times 1995,2015 and 2017 and will no doubt be dreaming to go beyond that in  Dar es Salaam.

Nations Cup: No time to experiment with new players-Rohr

Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr says two months to the Nations Cup in Egypt is too short a time to experiment with new players. 

Rohr who has dismissed insinuations in some quarters that he is under pressure to win a laurel with the team he inherited from former international Sunday Oliseh in 2016, maintained that the devil you know is better than the Angel you know nothing about.

 Some analysts had opined that though the Eagles did well in qualifying for the Nations cup without the usual migraine before qualification, the team needs to be given a close look with a view to effecting some changes especially in the goalkeeping area considered a bit shaky.

But in a swift reaction Rohr told whoever cares to listen that he has decided on the trio of Francis Uzoho, Daniel Akpeyi and Ikechukwu Ezenwa.

"We have a little challenge because our young goalkeeper Uzoho has not really played at his club this season," Rohr told BBC Sport.

"Uzoho made one mistake in the last qualifier [against Seychelles] but we gave him a chance with the youth under-23 and it was good for his confidence.

"Daniel Akpeyi is playing now for a big team in South Africa and doing very well. Our third goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa too is good so we can work harder with them.

"We have a good spirit as a team since the World Cup, so there's no time to bring in new players," he submitted  

Luckily Eagles who got what has been described as soft draw will face two debutants of the Nations cup Burundi and Madagascar with only Guinea expected to pose a bit of a challenge having been to the Nations cup 11 times and posting their best performance in 1976 in Ethiopia where they ended up as runners up to eventual winners Morocco.

The Syli Nationale, have also made it to the quarterfinals four times, the latest being at the 2015 edition in Equatorial Guinea. 

Incidentally Eagles were absent in the last two editions and will need to show on the pitch that indeed they are back.  All the 24 teams that will battle for honours in Egypt have till June 10^th to submit their final 23-man squad.