The Nigeria U23 National Men Football Team will today face Tanzania in the second leg of U23 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba in Ibadan.
Recall, the first leg of the encounter at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam ended 1-1.
The Africa U23 Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco in November 2023, will determine Africa’s flag bearers at the Men’s Football Tournament of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
While Tanzania has never participated in the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations since its inception in 2011, Nigeria have played in all three previous editions of the tournament and even won the tournament in 2015, defeating Algeria 2-1 to be crowned champions in Senegal.
Nigeria was drawn bye for the first qualification round while their second-round opponents began the journey from the off against South Sudan in September.
In the first leg of the Nigeria-Tanzania clash, captain Success Makanjuola scored from the spot in the 28th minute of the encounter after Remo Stars’ Akanni Qudus was fouled in the Tanzania 18-yard box to give Nigeria a 1-0 halftime lead.
Relentless Tanzania had their two shots on goal strike the post in the space of four minutes.
There was no goal again in the match until the 77th minute of the game when the Tanzanians were awarded a penalty which they scored to cancel out Nigeria’s lead as the game ended one goal apiece.
Coach Salisu Yusuf believes his team is ready for a convincing victory when the whistle blows for kick-off at 4PM on Saturday.
He said: “We went to Tanzania to win, but it was just not possible. The boys really worked hard and I must commend them for their efforts. However, we have been working hard on our weak points and believe we will get the job done on Saturday(Today).”
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