The U-20 tournament which was wrapped up last Saturday, saw Nigeria place third following a 4-0 victory over Tunisia.
Flying Eagles coach Ladan Bosso has hinted that his team could have performed better at the concluded 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations had he had some of the exceptional players he used at the WAFU qualifiers.
The U-20 tournament which was wrapped up with a final between Senegal and Gambia last Saturday, saw Nigeria place third following a 4-0 victory over Tunisia.
At the end of the tournament, the duo of Augustine Njoku and Solomon Agbalaka got named by CAF in the team of the tournament.
Bosso on missing key players ahead of U-20 AFCON
Speaking in a recent interview with ApexMedia, the Flying Eagles boss revealed that his team after his team got hit with injuries, it became too late to start changing the structure of the squad.
"Four of our players were affected by PCMA on the medical ground and so we could not feature them at the tournament," Bosso revealed.
"The team we took to the WAFU tournament in Nigeria Republic: we lost seven of them because of accreditation.
"It is not easy for any coach to manage such a situation and things went bad, us losing our first match and but then after, picking a world cup ticket.
"After one of our matches in Egypt, I had to apologise to Nigerians in one aspect."
Bosso, Flying Eagles turn attention to U-20 World Cup
On Monday, following the Flying Eagles' return to Nigeria, Bosso stated that his side are setting a fresh target.
"After the victory in Niamey, our target was doing well at the AFCON in order to earn a FIFA World Cup ticket," the U-20 coach said at Flying Eagles' welcome party in Abuja on Monday.
"Now, just as I told the Nigeria Ambassador to Egypt in Cairo on Saturday, our fresh target is doing very well at the FIFA World Cup."
Nigeria will alongside U-20 champions Senegal, runners-up Gambia, and Tunisia, represent Africa at the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia.
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