U17 AFCON Nigeria Press Conference : Every Single Word On World Cup Preparations, Angola, Injury Update, Chances Created & More

Nigeria U17 assistant coach, Bunmi Haruna and midfielder Mubarak Gata attended the mandatory pre-match press conference ahead of a potential meeting with Angola in the U17 Africa Cup of Nations third place playoff.

On Friday, the Nigeria Football Federation filed a complaint to the Confederation of African Football over two non-eligible players named in Guinea's starting lineup in their victory on penalties against Nigeria and it remains to be seen if tomorrow's game will go ahead.

Here's every single word Haruna and Gata said at the press conference :

Coach Bunmi Haruna, you are going to be facing Angola in the third place playoff, you have one particular game to be able to finish third.

BA : ''Thank you very much. It is unfortunate that we lost in the semifinals but if you are to look at the game holistically, you would want to say we lost gallantly, we gave our all.

''It had to go the lottery of penalties and even when it went penalties, you know each team had to play ten penalties. For the fans who paid to come and watch, I am sure they enjoyed themselves, even Nigerians.

''The feedback we got from Nigeria, even though we lost, they still praised the team. Penalty lottery is anyone's game.

''We were also lucky in Niger to beat Ghana, Ghana were also a very good team, so it's a preparatory stage, so we accept it.

''For the third place game, it is a one-off, we are looking to win because when you win it affects the team positively, so we are looking to end the competition on a bright note by winning the third place game and the players and coaches know what it is at stake.

''We know we have the capacity to play any team in the competition, it's just unfortunate we lost to Guinea. The third place game is to try and make Nigerians smile.''

What is in the mind of the players going into the game against Angola?

MG: ''Our semifinal was very good, but we lost because we are not playing to instructions, we lost so many chances.

''Had it been we converted our chances we would have won the match without going into penalties.

''So for the third place, we are very ready. We are going to win the third place because we will put the instructions into practice.''

(French question translated) You have played against Angola and you are playing them again tomorrow?

BH : ''Thank you very much for the interpretation, we played them in the group stages, it was a very good game.

''They were one man down at one point, yet we could not score an extra goal, so they are a very good team, a very tough team, the Angolans, not forgetting also they qualified for the World Cup.

''We expect a World Cup match, so it's not just any other game. We expect a tough game but like I said earlier, we are Nigeria and we have all the ingredients to win such matches if we play to our best.

''At this stage these kids are young, we expect them to make mistakes and learn from them, so we expect that some of the mistakes that we've seen in the competition so far, the players will improve on them in the game against Angola.

''For example, in the first game against Tanzania, we conceded four goals, that's unlike Nigeria but in subsequent games we didn't concede goals, we keep improving.

''You know a lot of people have talked about the way we miss goals but I can tell you I watched some of the games through the night and I saw improvements from my players.

''I know against Angola we are going to get an improved performance we need for us to win.''

You have talked about improvement. In the first game you conceded four goals, since then the defense has tightened up but in terms of producing chances, it has dropped. Do you think that has something to do with the the need to protect the defense? Secondly, the World Cup, is this game the first part of the process of evaluating players and weeding out those who will not go to the World Cup?

BH : ''Thank you very much. Let me answer the second question first. When we came for this competition our aim was to qualify for the World Cup and each of the players are aware of that even in training, every training we have is a chance to prove yourself that you deserve to be in the World Cup.

''Right now, no shirt is guaranteed in the team for the World Cup. Nigeria is so much talented that we can even present a new team, so a lot of talents, so each of the players are fighting for a place on the World Cup team, so anyone who gets a chance to play against Angola tomorrow knows he has to be at his best.

''Talking about the second question, we scored a lot of goals, five in the first game then we conceded a lot, we tightened up the defense.

''You should also know as the competition grows, it becomes tougher, so it is not as if we have not improved in terms of goalscoring.

''You check the chances created by the Nigeria side, I don't think any other team in this competition created as much chances.

''The first game we had about 33 chances created, in the second game we created another 22 chances, in the third game we created about 18, it is reducing because the competition is stiffer as it goes on.

''Like I said these are young players, we are preparing them for the top not just the U17.We want them in the end to be able to rub shoulders with the biggest stars across the world.

''The aim of the U17 is that in the end you'll be able to produce players that can help Nigeria win the FIFA senior World Cup, that is the aim.

''Right now, the Nigeria Football Federation has a program from the U13 to the U15 to the U17s and we try to graduate the players to the U20s to the national team.

''For example, for the current U17s, we have at least six players who graduated from the U13, U15 team who are now in the U17s, so the Nigeria Federation's aim is to graduate these players until we are able to produce a team that can consistently get to the semifinals of the senior World Cup and we know it is possible.''

For the player, will this kind of game third place, does it give you any kind of motivation to play this game instead of the final? For the coach, you had injuries in your game against Guinea, those players are they going to play tomorrow? You are talking about World Cup already, is this game part of your World Cup preparation?

MG : ''Our third place game tomorrow, it will be a very good game for us because after we qualified for the World Cup, our new aim is to collect the Cup and be the champion.

''With what happened, we lost against Guinea, we cannot go home like that, we have to collect medals. We have to do our best to win the third place tomorrow. Thank you.''

BH : ''As per the information about injuries, some of the players will be assessed today and also tomorrow morning to know if they will be fit for the game.

''The second question. It is a World up match already because you have two teams Angola and Nigeria who will be playing at the World Cup and just as I said the players will be assessed with this game.

''If you are going to be assessed with this game, it means it is a World Cup preparatory game, so we are just fortunate to have a high class preparatory game at this level.

''Be that as it may we want to win just like my player said we don't want to go home empty handed.

''You check out the coaching crew, we have a lot of experienced hands who have won the World Cup for example the first man to lift the U16 World Cup is in our coaching crew, Nduka Ugbade.

''Chief coach, Manu Garba has also won the World Cup two times, so they know the taste of winning, so tomorrow we'll be going all out to win but we also have an eye on the fact that we are also preparing for the World Cup.''

Do we expect changes to your squad tomorrow?

BH : ''I can't start revealing if there will be changes or not but we will play only the best for the game, like the best players will line up against Angola.''

Ifeanyi Emmanuel