Akinkunle Bolarinwa
Nigeria coach U20 Ladan Bosso has heaped praises on Uganda despite defeating the Hippos to seal their place in the semi-finals of the TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Flying Eagles edged Uganda 1-0 to book their place in the last four at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia on Thursday
Ladan Bosso and his Flying Eagles soared to the last four courtesy of Ibrahim Juma's own goal at the half hour mark in Ismailia.
The Hippos of Uganda enjoyed possession but they lacked the cutting edge to beat Chijioke Aniagboso in the Nigerian goal.
Isma Mugulusi, Travis Mutyaba and Ivan Irinimbabazi all came close but failed to beat the towering Aniagboso which has impressed the Nigeria U20 boss.
"The Ugandan team is very compact and I never expected them to give us such a herculean task but we thank god we had our plans for the match and we worked on them," Bosso said after the match.
"The Hippos are very composed, compact and I believe that most of their players are in their local league.
"The quality I have seen in this tournament in the coming years African teams will play in the FIFA World Cup final."
The experienced coach was excited to book his place in the semi-finals and credits the qualification to his colleagues back home.
"Today we achieved our first target which is to qualify for the World Cup and that was achieved together but most importantly back home being the president of the Nigerian Coaches Association the Nigerian coaches are solidly behind me," he added.
"I have almost five coaches back home who are studying the opponents in the tournament and they send it to me to work on them so I dedicate this qualification to the Nigerian coaches."
The Flying Eagles will be hoping to secure their eighth title but they will have to face the winner in Friday's quarter-final in Alexandria between The Gambia and debutants South Sudan.
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