Flying Eagles squad will be built on merit – Coach Zubairu

By Olaolu Joseph

Coach Zubairu Yusuf has outlined his plans for the Nigeria U-20 national team, declaring that only the best players will be selected. His statement came after the team defeated their counterparts from Côte d’Ivoire in a friendly on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with the team’s media officer in Abidjan after their impressive 2-0 victory over the Junior Elephants in the first leg of the double-header, Coach Zubairu Yusuf shared his thoughts on the team’s preparations ahead of the 2025 U-20 AFCON, which will serve as a qualifier for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Excerpts from the interview

Assessment of the match

“My reaction to today’s (Wednesday) game isn’t as important at this stage, as we are still in the building process. We played this friendly match to assess the level of both the returning players from WAFU-B and the new ones looking to join us.

“If any of the players from WAFU-B can’t meet the standard we are looking for, they will be replaced. The same applies to the new ones—if they can’t fit in, they won’t be part of the squad. We will keep fine-tuning the team until we achieve a balanced squad for the U-20 competition.”

New players

“We are expecting a lot of new players, particularly those who have taken their careers abroad and are eligible to play for us. A reasonable number of them will join the squad once we return to Nigeria.

“We are planning to go on a one-week break, and when we regroup, we will start expecting the foreign-based players to join the team.”

On the upcoming game this Friday

“We will approach Friday’s match with the same level of seriousness. In the first game, we adopted a tactic to test whether it would work for the AFCON proper. Now, we will try a different tactical approach to ensure we have both a Plan A and a Plan B.

“Should Plan A fail us during the tournament, we need to be able to switch quickly to Plan B.”

Coach Zubairu concluded by emphasizing his commitment to building a strong squad based on performance and merit.