Nigeria need to defeat South Africa in their final Group B fixture at the Africa U23 Cup of Nations, coach Imama Amapakabo has disclosed.
A win over the group leaders will seal the West Africans' progress into the semi-finals and also boost their chances of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
South Africa are yet to taste defeat in the competition having settled for a goalless draw against Zambia in their opening fixture, before beating Ivory Coast 1-0 on Tuesday.
Nigeria, on their part, have overcome their poor start with a 3-1 win over Zambia and the former Enugu Rangers coach is looking forward to a big match at Al Salam Stadium as his team chases maximum points on Friday.
"Every game is a big game, we needed to win our opening game but unfortunately, we did not win," Amapakabo said in the press conference in Egypt.
"We needed to win our second game, fortunately for us, we did win and we also need to win tomorrow.
"We pay utmost respect and attention to every team as I said from the onset, eight teams are here and every team deserves their place at the Olympics so we'll respect every team, we hope to give it our best shot in tomorrow's game."
