FIFA U20 World Cup: Nigeria battle ready for Argentina, says Ladan Bosso

Head coach of the U20 national team, Ladan Bosso has vowed that his team will give their all against Argentina in the Round of 16 encounter of the ongoing FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The Flying Eagles will face the most successful nation in FIFA U20 World Cup history at the Estadio San Juan del Bicentenario, San Juan on Wednesday.

Nigeria have met the Argentines once in previous editions of the Fifa U20 World Cup, in the Netherlands in 2005, where they were beaten 2-1 by a team inspired by Lionel Messi.

However, Argentina had failed to qualify for this year’s tournament from the South American qualifiers but got in through the backdoor as host nation after FIFA withdrew the hosting rights from Indonesia.

Javier Mascherano’s Argentine side topped Group A with a maximum of nine points, while Nigeria finished as the Group D best loser with two wins and one defeat but Bosso is optimistic his side will go through to the quarterfinals.

“We have to fight for the trophy. I think it is still open. Everybody can be there, and I believe we too can be there,” he told NFF TV.

“We are into the knockout stage, and in the knockout stage, there is an approach, we can employ for it, and we hope we’d have our plans executed accordingly.”