U20 Afcon: Uganda coach Jackson Mayanja sets ambitious target against Nigeria

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

Uganda U-20 Head coach Jackson Mayanja is setting the ambitious target of securing a World Cup when his side slug it out with Nigeria in  Thursday’s quarter-final clash at the Caf U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Both teams clash at the 22,000-capacity Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismailia from 7 pm Egypt time (6 pm Nigeria time) on Thursday and Mayanja is eyeing a semi-final berth to seal a place at the global finals.

“It’s a new month and we hope we can enter the new month and go to the semi-finals,” Mayanja told journalists at his pre-match press conference in Ismailia.

“We’re very prepared as a team and this is the most important time for my team to make sure we achieve our goal and all the players are in good condition they’re very fine.

“I have always said it and I will say it again here. What I want to achieve with this team is to qualify for the World Cup.”

Having reached the last eight, the former El Masry midfielder opened up on his side’s concerns about Nigeria duel.

“I don’t need to know so much about Nigeria even if you go out and look around every player but football is about what you think in the tactical part of it so we’re trying to put ourselves in a very good tactical position,” he said.

“Nigeria is a good team. It’s going to be a very hard game but I think like I said, the achievement we need is tomorrow, that’s what we want to achieve.

“I don’t want to talk about Nigeria. The game is to be played on the pitch tomorrow.”

All four quarter-final winners will advance to the semi-finals of the competition, but more importantly, qualify to represent Africa at the FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Indonesia.