U-20 W’Cup: Zubair confident of avoiding AFCON lapses News

Navigation: Home / News / News / U-20 W’Cup: Zubair confident of avoiding AFCON lapses

U-20 W’Cup: Zubair confident of avoiding AFCON lapses

By Daily Sports Nigeria on September 26, 2025

Head coach of Nigeria’s U-20 national team, Ali Zubair, says the Flying Eagles have corrected the mistakes that cost them at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations and are now better prepared for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile.

The team concluded a 12-day training camp with two warm-up matches, drawing 1-1 with Chile before defeating Australia. Zubair said the outcomes mattered less than the progress made in improving the squad’s structure.

One of Nigeria’s weaknesses at the U-20 AFCON in Egypt was a blunt attack, but Zubair expressed satisfaction with his forwards after four goals across the friendlies.

“Compared to what happened in AFCON, there’s a lot of improvement,” he said.

“The four goals we scored here came from different players, which was not the case before. Our attack is biting better now and we are exploiting the spaces in the final third. With the little time we have before the World Cup, we will keep working to get even better.”

However, the Flying Eagles suffered a setback after defender Marvelous Freedom sustained a knee injury in training. Freedom, who missed the second friendly against Australia, has been replaced in the squad by Wikki Tourists defender Haruna Aliyu, who is expected to arrive at the team’s camp in Talca City, Chile.

Nigeria have been drawn in Group F alongside Norway, Saudi Arabia and Colombia. They open their campaign against Norway on Monday, September 29, before facing Saudi Arabia three days later and concluding the group stage against Colombia on October 5.

The Flying Eagles have twice finished as runners-up in the history of the competition, losing to Portugal in 1989 and to Argentina in 2005.

The 2025 edition of the tournament runs from September 27 to October 19.

Source Punch Ng

Posted September 26, 2025