{"id":528906,"date":"2025-05-12T18:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benews.fr\/en\/?p=528906"},"modified":"2025-05-12T18:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:35:15","slug":"u-20-afcon-our-top-priority-is-to-qualify-nigeria-warns-senegal-ahead-of-quarter-final-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/u-20-afcon-our-top-priority-is-to-qualify-nigeria-warns-senegal-ahead-of-quarter-final-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"U-20 AFCON: \u201cOur top priority is to qualify,\u201d Nigeria warns Senegal ahead of quarter-final clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nigeria takes on Senegal this Monday in a high-stakes quarter-final of the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. For head coach <strong>Aliyu Zubair<\/strong>, the mission is clear: secure a spot in the semi-finals\u2014and, with it, a ticket to the U-20 World Cup in Chile this September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The knockout stage kicks off with a marquee showdown between the <strong>defending champions Senegal<\/strong> and <strong>record-chasing Nigeria<\/strong>. The Teranga Cubs had a rocky group stage and had to wait until the final matchday to book their place in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles had a relatively smooth run, despite some inefficiencies in front of goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this decisive encounter, both sides are expected to field their strongest lineups. Coach Zubair remains focused on the bigger picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWe want to reach the semi-finals. Our top priority is to qualify for the World Cup. That\u2019s where all our attention is. We\u2019re building momentum, and I believe we\u2019re ready now,\u201d said the Nigerian coach, whose team is eyeing a <strong>record-extending ninth title<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Fully aware of the threat posed by the reigning champions, Zubair expects a tough battle but is not backing down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWe are very confident. We respect all our opponents, including Senegal. But Nigeria has been in this position before. This time, we\u2019re the ones who will stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Kickoff is set for <strong>1:00 p.m. (GMT+1)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nigeria takes on Senegal this Monday in a high-stakes quarter-final of the 2025 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations. For head coach Aliyu Zubair, the mission is clear: secure a spot in the semi-finals\u2014and, with it, a ticket to the U-20 World Cup in Chile this September. The knockout stage kicks off with a marquee showdown [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":527488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"pays":[144,145],"personnalite":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-528906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afrique-sport","8":"pays-nigeria-west-africa","9":"pays-senegal-west-africa"},"acf":{"type_de_publication":"opinion","nom_de_linstitution":"","description_de_linstitution":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528906"},{"taxonomy":"pays","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pays?post=528906"},{"taxonomy":"personnalite","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benews.ci\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personnalite?post=528906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}