Satellites coach sure of WAFU Cup glory

The head coach of the Black Satellites, Jimmy Cobblah, is optimistic of winning the West African Football Union (WAFU) U-20 Cup tournament to be hosted by Togo.
The Satellites will play Niger in an opening Group B match at the Stade Municipal in Lomé on Friday, December,7. The team will then face Benin and Nigeria respectively as their second and third group game.

Coach Cobblah was impressed with the output of his players since preparations began last week and told the Daily Graphic in a telephone conversation that his main target was to go for the trophy.

“As a coach, winning is my mentality and that has been my motivation. Despite having about 98 per cent of my squad being local-based players, I still believe we can win. I believe the players would want to use this particular tournament to justify why they should be selected for the U-20 AFCON and this would be an opportunity for them”.

He was, however, worried about the team’s brief preparation as compared to the other participating teams.

“We started training just last week. Our competitors such as Senegal, Nigeria, Niger and others started preparations some months ago, but this will not scare us. We will try and bring glory home”, he noted.

According to Coach Cobblah, he had 27 players in camp out of which 21 would be selected for the upcoming tournament. The team is expected to depart Accra for Togo on Sunday.

The eight-nation tournament, which starts from December 6 to16, will serve as preparations for the Black Satellites ahead of the Africa U-20 Championship which kicks off in Niger on February 2, 2019.