Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have promised to make up for an opening day loss to Mali to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2013 African Youth Championship.

Defending champions Nigeria failed to put away countless chances to allow Mali run away with a lone goal victory on Sunday in Oran.

Gabon and DR Congo played out a 0-0 draw in the second game in Group B to keep this section very much wide open.

The Flying Eagles have said they will now get their title defence back on track with victories over Gabon on Wednesday night and then at the weekend against DR Congo.

“We will do a lot better in our next game against Gabon on Wednesday,” vowed skipper Abduljaleel Ajagun, who was in the team that fell 0-1 to Cameroon in a group game at the last tournament in South Africa.

“The early goal Mali scored set us back and we were just too much in a hurry to equalise.

“We now know what we have to do on Wednesday.”

Lobi Stars midfielder, Moses Orkuma, said they will ensure they do not throw away begging chances again as they did against the Junior Eagles of Mali.

“We have realised our mistakes and we are now condemned to win our next two matches, which should qualify us to the World Cup,” said Orkuma.