At the 2013 CAF U17 Championship in Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire clinched their first-ever title at this level when they upstaged favourites Nigeria on penalties after final scores stood at 1-1.
The Ivorians also beat the Golden Eaglets 1-0 in a group game of the same competition.
Manu Garba and Ibrahim Kamara were both in charge of the teams in Morocco and they will again be calling the shots when they do battle on the artificial pitch of the Caroline Faye Stadium in Mbour.
The pressure is on Cote d’Ivoire to win so as to reach the last four of the competition as they have two points following draws against both Congo and Senegal.
A loss to Nigeria could let in hosts Senegal, who have a point and face a deflated Congo in the other match in this group in Dakar.
“Cote d’Ivoire will likely sit back in defence and hope to catch us on the counter, but we will be ready for them,” said a confident Manu.
“People have spoken of revenge, but we are not interested in that. We just want to keep on winning our matches because if we win all our games in Senegal, we will be champions.”
“We are focused on winning our final match against Cote d’Ivoire even though we have already won the group,” added striker Chidera Ezeh.
“It won’t be an easy match particularly after what happened at the U17 level.
“We respect them, but don’t fear them and we will win.”
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