Salisu Yusuf, head coach of Nigeria’s U23 side, said his boys are ready and capable of reaching this year’s Africa U23 Cup of Nations in Morocco, www.aclsports.com reports.
The former Kano Pillars gaffer spoke to the team’s media team ahead of their clash with Guinea’s Olympic squad in a final qualifying fixture, first leg encounter at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Wednesday.
“I am satisfied that we have been able to work hard these past days and are now set for action,” Salisu began.
“The players know that reaching the Africa Cup of Nations presents them a tremendous opportunity to fight hard for a ticket to the Olympics, which is a global tournament.
Salisu is hopeful that the invited foreign players will help his team nick a good win in the Nation’s capital on Wednesday.
“We have invited a number of players from overseas that we believe can help us stake a very strong claim to the ticket, and we will be aiming for a good win on Wednesday.
“The second leg is on neutral ground, but we don’t want to entertain that in our minds. We have the objective of working assiduously to wrap up things in this first leg,” Salisu concluded.
For Wednesday’s encounter in Abuja, CAF has appointed Sabri Mohamed Fadul from Sudan as referee. His compatriots Abdelgabar Mohamed Abdelgabar and Ahmed Subahi will serve as assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively, Ring Akech Malong from South Sudan will work as fourth official, while Munkaila Nassam Adam from Ghana will be the match commissioner.
The match has been scheduled to kickoff at 4pm(Nigerian time).
