Senegal, Gambia, and Tunisia will continue their quest for a maiden Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U20 title this evening when the two take on their respective opponent in the semis of the ongoing competition in Egypt.The Young Teranga Cubs are first on the battleground when they come up against Tunisia at the Suez Canal Stadium from 5 PM; the two sides still looking for their first title.Malick Daf coached Senegal are yet to concede a goal in Egypt in the current edition and the coach insists that they are focused on securing their place in the final.”We are not finished yet because we’re playing against Tunisia for a place in the final. We want to win and our aim is to improve the team and if we want to realise our objective we must win tomorrow (today). The players are ready to perform and we’re motivated for the match. Our first objective was to qualify for the World Cup and the second is to win the trophy. Tunisia are a good team and we played them two times. We’re very concentrated and focused. I’m motivated to win but we will respect our opponents as any other team. We will work towards our objective of winning a trophy,” Daf said on Sunday.##NAJAVA_MECA_7076947##His Tunisian counterpart Adel Sellimi is upbeat that they are out to build on their brave performance in the quarters where they beat Congo, coming from behind in two instances to finally win it from the spot.”The quarter-final match gave us a lot of confidence and it motivated the team to face Senegal. The performance of the team against Congo showed the level we can play so it serves as a motivation for us. We want to win the match and head to the final and we’re confident that we can win tomorrow. The semi-final will be a very difficult and a strong match because it’s against Senegal,” Adel Sellimi said.Later at 8 PM, record holders of the title Nigeria take on the unblemished Gambia who will be hoping to better their 2007 and 2021 third-place finishes this time around.Tenth place finish for Shujaa in VancouverThe seven-time champions Nigeria overcame a poor start that saw them lose to Senegal in the opening round and have been on the ascendency since then.Ahead of the match, Nigeria’s coach Ladan Bosso has stressed that there are no small teams, pointing out that The Gambia have a strong team.”I’m happy to be back in Cairo once again after we played the last two matches in Ismailia. Tomorrow we will face The Gambia who are a strong team and we respect them well but we will work to present a good level to win. We lost the first match and we have not lost any match since then. We will face a team that has not been defeated in the tournament. The most important thing for us in the tournament is that we qualified for the World Cup. Now we will fight to win the title. There are no big or small teams in football because it’s only performance and result that counts,” Bosso said.##NAJAVA_MECA_7076958##Gambia’s coach Abdoulie Bojang is expecting a tough tactical battle against Nigeria, reiterating their commitment to winning the trophy.”It is going to be a tactical battle. We will respect them and put up a respectable performance on the pitch tomorrow. Like I always said football is beyond what is on paper. You can get all the records but what I believe is what can we produce during the 90 minutes of play. Nigeria is the only team standing between us and the final. We want to be champions and that can only happen when we beat a champion. We are a committed team but we must do everything we can to win and reach the final.” Bojang said.
