Niger Tornadoes' Technical Adviser, Abubakar Bala has disclosed that his side would respect their semifinal opponent, FC Ifeanyi Ubah as the defending champion of AITEO Cup but believes his young tutored side was equipped to give them a good game.
Niger Tornadoes will engage the Anambra Warriors in a two leg semi final clash for a place in the final.
The first leg fixed for Confluence stadium, Lokoja on Saturday will be the second time both sides will meet after the encounter in the NPFL that ended in suspension to seven players of FCIU.
According to coach Bala, he noted that many people had doubts on the club’s NPFL survival and were not expected to see his side excel at the AITEO Cup.
He said that the team was careful in their preseason activities as they went for younger raw talents between the ages of 18 to 25 and ready to deliver when called upon.
"We know it will be a difficult match against IfeanyiUbah but we are easy to give it all, we will respect them but won't fear them, we will give them a good match.
“Some people didn’t believe us, but we believed in the recruitment we made. We believed in the players we recruited and reinforced based on age category of 18, 19, 20 and highest 25.
“We recruited young boys that will listen to us, willing to do it and ready to learn”, said Bala.
The coach added that approaching the defending champions at this stage of the tournament would be done with caution and that playing first at home his side will try to make the best use of the opportunity so that their trip to Nnewi will be a mere formality.
FCIU eliminated Abubakar Bukola Saraki 4-0 on aggregate, defeating the Ilorin based 3-0 in Nnewi and 1-0 in Ilorin.
On the other hand, Niger Tornadoes saw off newly crowned NPFL champions, Plateau United, winning 2-0 in Lokoja and played out a 2-2 in Jos to advance on a 4-2 aggrgate to the semi finals.
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