Nigeria U17 manager Manu Garba is confident that the national team will qualify for the 2019 Africa U17 Cup of Nations after pointing out they are an attacking threat, having averaged 5.3 goals per game in friendly games ahead of the zonal qualifiers in the Republic of Niger.

Five-time champions, Nigeria, will begin their campaign against Burkina Faso at Stade Municipal, Niamey on Monday, and Garba says they have prepared well for the tournament.

''I am somebody who is always optimistic, I believe in destiny and we believe we have worked very hard, prepared very well,'' said Manu Garba.

''All we need from Nigerians is for them to pray for this team, we in turn will do all our best to make sure we win all our matches and by winning all our matches, we are sure of picking the sole ticket to qualify for the Nations Cup.''

Manu Garba added : ''We have played about 26 matches, scoring 138 goals, conceding 16, this goes to show that we have a very formidable young side, young side in the sense that most of these boys have passed the MRI which is an eligibility factor for them to partake in this competition.

''Most importantly, we are very focused for our first game which will come up on September 3 against Burkina Faso.''

Nigeria will also lock horns with Ivory Coast (September 6) and Republic of Benin (September 9) in Group B of WAFU-UFOA Zone B qualifiers for the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel