Wafu B Cup of Nations: Ghana targeting revenge in Nigeria showdown

Ghana have revenge on their minds as they take on archrivals Nigeria in their opening game of the 2020 Wafu B Cup of Nations in Benin, says head coach Abdul Karim Zito.

The Black Satellites are set to face the Flying Eagles at Stade de Gaules in Porto Novo at the sub-regional championship.

While Ghana drew a bye on matchday one of Group B’s schedule of fixtures due to the group consisting of only three teams, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire settled for a 1-1 draw.

At their last meeting at the tournament two years ago, Ghana were handed a 4-2 defeat by Nigeria.

“There is a big rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria. So at all costs, we should make amendments [for the last defeat],” Zito told Footballmadeinghana.

“In football sometimes people say win, lose or draw. It’s not about drawing, its winning, drawing or making amendments. We will have the opportunities to make amendments. Ghana have another opportunity to make amendments from the first 4-2 [defeat] they gave us.

“[Nigeria] is a team that is not tactically sound compared to Cote D’Ivoire but it [our chances] all depends on the team that we are going to play against. Maybe their motivation factor against Cote D’Ivoire will not be the same against Ghana.

“I will not take it [their threat] the way I saw it over there [against Cote d’Ivoire] but rather I will also build my own self against what I saw. We need a win out of two matches just to make it to the semi-final.”

The Wafu B Championship serves as qualifiers for the 2021 Africa U20 Cup of Nations, with the two finalists in Benin securing participation tickets for the continental gathering.

The African event will, in turn, serve as qualifiers for the 2020 Fifa U20 World Cup, the four semi-finalists are set to represent the continent at the global gathering in Indonesia.

“We need Ghanaians to pray for us and keep supporting us,” Ghana captain Daniel Afriyie said.

“Our training sessions have been intense and shows we are very serious. They should support us and we will deliver victory for them on Wednesday.

“They [Ghanaians] should not lose sleep over our qualifications chances. We will need them to pray for us. We will do everything possible to win the trophy for Ghana.”

Ghana have set their sights on going all the way to play at the World Cup for the first time since 2015 when they reached the round of 16 in New Zealand.