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John Obuh, coach
of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles has set his sights on recording a win over
Cameroon in today’s African Youth Championship final and in the process
avenge his side’s loss to the Young Lions earlier in the tournament.

Both sides will
meet at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto in the final match of the
tournament with the Nigerians seeking a record extending sixth victory
in the tourney while the Cameroonians will be eager to claim only their
second African under-20 title.

Ironically,
Cameroon’s only title was at the 1995 edition hosted by Nigeria, where
they defeated Burundi in the final. Nigeria on the other hand, remains
in search of a first title since Samson Siasia led a team of talented
footballers to the 2005 tournament in the Republic of Benin.

Two years ago in
Rwanda, the Young Lions lost 2-0 in the final to Ghana and will be
hoping to avoid a similar outcome at the end of today’s game against
the Flying Eagles.

Having already
secured a 1-0 win over the Flying Eagles in their Group B meeting on
April 21 at the Dobsonville Stadium, Martin Mpile’s Young Lions will be
confident of re-enacting a similar feat over Obuh’s team.

But Obuh is in
search of what he hopes will be the first of many major titles for the
country’s national teams and is itching to set the records straight
against the side that could rightly be described as Nigeria’s bogey
team, that is as far as football at the under 20 level is concerned.

Even though the
Nigerians are the most successful team in the history of the
championship, they have always succumbed to the superior firepower of
the Cameroonians.

In nine previous
meetings, the Cameroonians have emerged victorious on eight occasions
while Nigeria has won just once – a 5-1 victory back in 1985.

Between 1985 to
date, both sides have met five times at the championship with the Young
Lions winning all of those games, including penultimate Thursday’s 1-0
win.

But Obuh is out
to change the negative trend and become the first Flying Eagles coach
since Paul Hamilton to defeat the Cameroonians in the tourney.

Once beaten, twice shy

“They may have
beaten us earlier in the tournament but I don’t see them doing that
again in the final,” Obuh told NEXT from his team’s base in South
Africa. “They are a good side, no doubt about that, and deserve to be
in the final but we will be the ones smiling at the end of the final,
not them.

“In the first match
between us there wasn’t much difference between us. Had it not been for
the momentary loss in concentration we wouldn’t had conceded that
goal,” added Obuh, recalling Franck Ohandza’s first-half injury time
strike which ended up deciding the game in favour of Mpile’s Young
Lions.

“We had a lot of
chances to equalise in that game but the boys were too anxious to score
and didn’t keep their cool when it mattered most.

“But all that has
been rectified since that loss and as you can see from all the matches
we have played since then, we have been getting better and better.” And
indeed the Flying Eagles have shown considerable improvement since that
loss to the Cameroonians especially in the goal scoring department.

First came a 2-0
win over The Gambia in the crucial Group B decider, before last
Thursday’s 2-0 win over Mali in the semi finals. In both games, Obuh’s
side in addition to their ruthlessness in front of goal, displayed a
defensive cohesiveness that had previously not been seen of the
Nigerian side in earlier games at the championship.

“The boys have been
working on that aspect of their game,” continued Obuh, explaining his
team’s strength at the back. “We have put in extra time during training
to improve on that aspect of our game and I’m glad to see that it has
worked out.”

The Nigerian team
will, however, be without Gani Ogungbe when they march onto the pitch
today after the central defender picked up his second yellow card of
the tournament in Thursday’s win over the Malians.

Obuh is however unperturbed about the unavailability of the Gateway FC of Abeokuta for today’s game.

“We will miss him
but there is no cause for alarm,” he continued. “We are not a team that
depends on one individual; we are a team that plays collectively and
that is what has brought us this far in the competition.”

On paper the Young
Lions are favourites. They are yet to lose a game in the tournament,
unlike the Nigerians, and have an even tighter defence than the Flying
Eagles, having conceded just one goal in regulation time.

For their part, the
Flying Eagles have conceded two goals, but have more juice upfront
having scored six goals in four matches, which is twice the number of
goals the Cameroonians have been able to muster since the start of the
tournament.

But Obuh’s opposite
number, Mpile, is not in the least bothered about that. In fact, the
veteran coach doesn’t think today’s game will be anything like
penultimate Thursday’s encounter which ended in a win for his Young
Lions.

Cameroonian optimism

Speaking moments
after his side’s hard-fought semi final penalty shootout victory over
Egypt on Thursday, Mpile said: “It’s (going to be) a different game,
which will not resemble any game in the first round.

He added: “We
really want to win the cup, which is the reason why we are prepared to
go all the way.” It was also an opinion posited by former coach of the
Cameroonian senior national team, Jules Federick Nyongha.

“It will be a tough
game. With what I have seen throughout the competition though, we can
win the trophy. The players just need to continue in the same spirit
and respect the coach’s instruction,” Nyongha said.

But Obuh, having
lost in the final of the 2009 FIFA Under 17 World Cup, when he was in
charge of the Golden Eaglets, is not ready to play second fiddle to
anyone again.

“A lot of the boys in this team were in the Eaglets and they are not ready to end up on the losing side once again,” Obuh said.

“I’m also not
thinking about that. I know how bitter defeat tastes; I have already
tasted it once and I don’t want to do it again.

“It’s been a long
time since we won the AYC so I don’t think it will be a bad idea to
return home with the trophy this time around.”

Twenty-five years and counting

The last time
Nigeria won the Youth Championship trophy was back in 2005. Since then,
the Flying Eagles have progressed to the finals on one occasion, back
in 2007 when they lost 1-0 to hosts Congo.

They also went as
far as the semi finals two years ago in Rwanda but Siasia, who was in
charge back in 2005, and who was also a part of the Flying Eagles team
that defeated the Cameroonians 5-1 in 1985, is banking on Obuh’s side
to return home with the trophy.

“They haven’t done badly and I have the feeling they will beat the Cameroonians,” said the Super Eagles handler.

“I can’t believe it
has been that long since we defeated them,” he continued, recalling the
1985 victory. “That was such a long time ago, in a different era. But
this is a different generation of players and I have the feeling they
will emerge victorious.”

There are others who feel differently, most notably, Orlando Wellington, coach of the Ghanaians at the championship.

The Black Stars had
lost their opening game 2-1 to the Flying Eagles before playing out a
1-1 draw with the Cameroonians, who had to wait until injury time
before drawing level with the world champions.

But having come up
against both sides during the course of the tournament, Wellington is
of the opinion that the Cameroonians will emerge victorious at the end
of today’s game.

“I will say Cameroon can win the championship because they have the
best players and they play like a compact team and I won’t be surprised
if they win,” Wellington said. He also added: “The self belief is there
and they look very motivated in the competition.”