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The Flying Eagles are the tournament’s record winners but are returning to this stage of the competition after failing to make the last edition in Mauritania.
Ladan Bosso is backing Nigeria's Flying Eagles to have enough to secure qualification for the U20 FIFA World Cup but says the Uganda Hippos should not be taken lightly.
Nigeria faces Uganda in the quarter-finals of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia on Thursday.
The Flying Eagles are the tournament’s record winners but are returning to this stage of the competition after failing to make the last edition in Mauritania.
With a second-place finish in Group A, behind Senegal, the team is confident following their back-to-back wins in the group stage.
"We have an objective of coming out of this place and the least task ahead of us is to pick one of the slots to the FIFA U-20 World Cup," said coach Ladan Bosso.
"We're almost there, but it is not yet sealed. We believe and hope that at the end of the regulation time tomorrow, we should be celebrating."
"The knockout stage, if you don't squeeze through, it's as if you didn't qualify, so we will do all we can do to make sure we go through to the World Cup.”
“We have our strategy, and we hope our plan will work accordingly," Bosso added.
Bosso acknowledged that the Ugandan Hippos, who reached the final on their debut two years ago, are equally capable of matching them and cannot be underestimated.
Goalkeeper Chijioke Aniagboso echoed the sentiments of his coach, stating that they need to work even harder to beat the Hippos of Uganda.
"We will continue from where we stopped improving our game, but we're happy to get to this stage," Chijioke said.
"We need to work so much harder than how we started. Losing this match is like not even qualifying at all, so I think we're prepared with the coaches, and by God's grace, we will go through.
“We are in a confident mood because we started this, and we have to end it. Our job is to go to the field and up our game and book our ticket."
The Hippos finished Group B with five points after a victory over the Central African Republic (CAR) in their opening game and draws against Congo and South Sudan.
Uganda eventually was drawn to face Nigeria after a draw of lots was conducted to determine the Group B winner, with both Uganda and Congo level on all tie breakers.
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