Head Coach Isah Ladan Bosso has invited a total of 30 players to the Flying Eagles’ camp, from which a final list will be drawn to fly Nigeria’s flag at the men’s football event, with Nigeria aiming to go one step better after winning the silver medals at the last edition of the Games in Rabat, Morocco in 2019.
Bosso led the U20 boys to the quarter-finals of last year’s FIFA U20 World Cup finals in Argentina.
On his part, Falconets’ Head Coach Chris Musa Danjuma, who has led his 2022 World Cup quarter-finalists to earn a ticket to this year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals in Colombia, has called up 23 players.
The invited players to both the men’s and women’s teams have been advised to report at the Agete Luxury Hotel in Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja on Thursday, 15th February 2024.
Nigeria will play Uganda, South Sudan, Senegal and Tunisia in that order in the group stage of the 13th African Games (formerly All-Africa Games), while the Falconets will square up to Morocco, Senegal and Cameroon.
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ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS (FLYING EAGLES):
Goalkeepers: Nathaniel Nwosu (Water FC); Andy Ezekiel (Calabar Rovers); James Friday (Mavlon FC); Femi Oriola (36 Lions)
Defenders: Daniel Bameyi (YumYum FC); Benjamin Frederick (Brentford FC, England); Ibrahim Abdullahi (Kano Pillars); Emmanuel Michael (Gombe United); Emmanuel Onoja (Heartland FC); Ime Sampson (Dakkada FC); Haruna Aliyu (Doma United)
Midfielders: Daniel Daga (Enyimba FC); Auwal Ibrahim (Akwa United); Yinka Shola (Madiba FC); Farouq Olanrewaju (Beyond Limits FC); Chibueze Izuogu (Enyimba FC); Simon Karshe (Mavlon FC); Ibrahim Adamu (Real Sapphire FC); Ibrahim Idris (Kano Pillars)
Forwards: Kehinde Ibrahim (36 Lions); Danjuma Lawali (Mahaniam FC); Oluwaseyi Akinfenwa (Real Sapphire FC); Ibrahim Lawal (36 Lions); Charles Agada (Mavlon FC); Nasir Muhammed (Capital City FC); Sunday Joseph (Zamfara United); Olalekan Ibrahim (Central Football Academy); Muhammad Isiaka (Niger Tornadoes); Rabiu Abdullahi; Nathaniel Arierhi (Beyond Limits FC)
ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS (FALCONETS):
Goalkeepers: Anderline Mgbechi (Delta Queens); Faith Omilana (Naija Ratels); Rachael Unachukwu (Nasarawa Amazons); Linda Jiwuaku (Bayelsa Queens)
Defenders: Oluchi Ohaegbulem (Nasarawa Amazons); Chiamaka Nkwocha (FC Robo Queens); Jumoke Alani (Nasarawa Amazons); Shukurat Oladipo (Nasarawa Amazons); Oluwabunmi Oladeji (Naija Ratels); Folashade Adegbemile (Delta Queens); Tumininu Adeshina (Naija Ratels)
Midfielders: Adoo Yina (Nasarawa Amazons); Taiwo Afolabi (Delta Queens); Olushola Shobowale (Nasarawa Amazons); Aminat Folorunsho (Rivers Angels); Chioma Olise (Edo Queens); Chinyere Kalu (Nasarawa Amazons)
Forwards: Edidiong Etim (Bayelsa Queens); Chiamaka Okwuchukwu (Rivers Angels); Chinaza Agoh (Delta Queens); Mary Nkpa (Heartland Queens); Chiamaka Osigwe (Edo Queens); Janet Akekoromowei (Asisat Academy)
27 Comments
Wish both teams all the best.
Do us proud boys and girls. Love y’ll!
The permanent coach of the Flying Eagles, every year parading his over-aged men as U20 to bully real under-20s and then crash out in the QF. Next year, he goes again and appoints himself being the chairperson of the coaches association branch of the NFF.
No matter how good you think you are as a youth coach, don’t bother applying to the NFF for the U20 role. It’s been reserved for the only approved Under 20 coach in Nigeria, probably until he kpais. I stopped watching his last team when I saw all the Under 40’s and Under 35’s he was parading.
I hate unfair competition. Which of his men caught the eye of foreign scouts or Paseiro for the Afcon? Which of his men has ever made it to the SE. The current SE are made up mainly from the FIFA U17 winning team, EPL-grooomed Nigerian foreign born players, and academy players who made their way to Europe.
NFF, try another coach for the U20 or remove Bosso as chairman of the coaches asscoiation or else he’ll be appointing himself every year.
Lol. Kel, how would he feed his family? Hehehehe. Permanent coach got me. I cringe when some forumites here call out some of his under 20 players to shore up super eagles when we know their relevance is on a tick tock time piece.
They know the players they are clamouring for are way past their sell by date but no, Bosso’s Under 20 team is their “one for the future”.
For me, NFF is giving jobs based on federal character commission.
Don’t be surprised Kel that after posturing to get Amuneke on board Eagles might have dissipated in a couple of years, it would be Bosso’s turn lol.
Anyway, God has had mercy on us by providing an “escape route” for squad grooming for super Eagles with foreign born pros. Long may it continue because no one can build a dazzling structure on quick sand.
Leave bosso though to let some players earn foreign currency no matter how obscure the leagues are, when he “discovers” them at tournaments such as this sha
Ah Sylvester,
Leave my Ladan Bosso alone o. Didn’t you get drunk on palm wine after Ladan Bosso’s boys defeated hosts Argentina in the round of 16 last year?
Lol. Honestly, I did. It was the first time I streamed live any of our national team matches on DSTV app because my dad never wanted resurgence of high blood pressure so he preferred Africa magic family Tinsel to matches. Maybe na patriotism dey do me but when I read most of Bosso’s “young men” were in the region of 16 and 18 years with the faces I saw (I think Daga claimed to be 16 at the time), I was thanking God for “poaching” because let’s be frank, how many under 20 players discovered in only the last half a decade have gone on to do “exploits”?
@Sly, I don’t know anyone’s real age but the one thing I do know is that you CANNOT tell everyone’s age just by their “faces”…SMH
PS: Btw, I don’t know Daniel Daga’s real age but he was a veritable schoolboy “legend” in Akwa Ibom state, where he led his school team to the Governor’s Cup final while still in JSS2. I would think he’s someone people have followed closely and thus less likely to get away with age fraud. Furthermore, saw him play in an academy in Calabar a few years ago when he must’ve been about 13 (and he looked NOWHERE near as physically developed as he was at the the U20 WC). Again, I don’t know his real age but wouldn’t jump to conclusions based merely on his “face” or physical appearance.
Well captured, Sly. I was following his team at the World Cup until I observed all the men he was parading as youths (admittedly not all). I didn’t care when they were knocked out neither was excited when they beat the hosts.
I learnt MRI is not used at the U20, so that leaves room for all the manipulations. In contrast, I loved the 2023 Golden Eaglets (though they crashed out to Burkina Faso) cos they all looked Under 17. Fair competition.
As you pointed out, thank God for the escape route via foreign born pros. All the Ekongs, Ademola Lookmans, Alex Iwobis, Carl Ikemes etc. Other African countries are now copying our model.
Yes there are definitely ones for the future in the squad. Watch out for Daga and Farouq Olanrenwaju. Nataniel Nwosu is also a prospect. Tochukwu Nnadi is one of them too. Including Benjamin Fredrick. All our players can not be foreign born. In the SuperEagles we have foreign borns Innit boys and local breeds that went through our youth systems. In Ugbades team the likes of Raphael Oyebanjo and Ebube Okere are future prospects. Bookmark this space. Nigeria has the largest population of youths in the world. Therefore, some quality talents will definitely come through from this group.
Kel,
Which of his men has ever made it to the SE?
These include:
1. Elderson Echiejile (Afcon winner)
2. Oladapo Olufemi
3. Efe Ambrose (Afcon winner)
4. Bello Musa Kofarmata
5. Brown Ideye (Afcon winner)
6. Ikechukwu Ezenwa (Afcon bronze)
7. Nwankwo Obiorah (Afcon winner)
8. Haruna Lookman (world cup team)
9 Michael Uchebo (“world cup team)
10. Rabiu Ibrahim
11. Gbolahan Salami
Although some of these players went through Under 17 youth system, Ladan Bosso also enhanced their passage into the Super Eagles by adding them to his squads.
Continuity is good. Bosso is now highly experienced in Under-20 football having qualified Nigeria for 3 tournaments.
His selection is a no brainier. Let’s support him now before he reaches the semi-finals of a world cup!
Hahaha @deo. “Let’s support him now before he reaches the semi-finals of a world cup!”
Ah, no. I won’t be excited even if he wins the U20 World Cup if his players don’t look the age. I hardly get excited about some of the FIFA U17 trophies we “won”. The 1985 and 2015 (and maybe 2013 when MRI was introduced) are the exceptions for me.
But this list up there, I’m not seeing any exceptional SE star (past or present) there o. For me, no real A-level, must-invite player there. Just middle-ground players.
Kel, your argument lacks substance and maturity. Criticizing someone’s age solely based on their appearance is narrow-minded. Many individuals, particularly athletes like footballers, undergo significant physical changes during their journey to professionalism, making it challenging to accurately determine their age at a glance. While age discrepancies may indeed exist, especially in regions like Africa where age cheating is prevalent, it is imprudent to judge people solely on their appearance. It’s best to withhold judgment, even if you hold a different opinion.
Forumite please which league is this “YUM YUM FC” playing??
Is the club in Nigeria or Europe?
That is how corruption has eaten into our system. Until the young lad gets a foreign contract, he will be around
Ladan Bosso thank you for inviting Ariehi from BLA but I would have loved NFF to give us BLA Coach. I believe he is destined to for greatness if you’re a good follower of BLA’s exploits in the NNL coming from Amateur league.
Chima, what happened to Dominion Ohaka? He is Super Eagles material. Even Wisdom Ubani is excluded. He is a good centre forward.
@deo… Wisdom Ubani played U-17 in 2019, you still want him to play U-20 in 2024 five years later? Haba bro…
Okay, what about Dominion Ohaka?
Wisdom Ubani is the next Victor Osimhen.
Wisdom is in Croatia second division he will come good for the senior national team in future.
Ask Bosso when last he attended a CAF coaching course? It’s a shame that most Nigerian coaches do not come close to South African coaches in terms of tactics. Despite the abundant talent, we lack real tactician. We keep parading Bosso up and down like Uzoho wanted to kee Nigerian football if not for Nwabali.
The end result of all these craps is that nobody will replace Chukwueze, Aribo, Iwobi, Zaidu in the national team. Even though we have BETTER players in Nigeria.
Why will he go for CAF coaching course when he knows they will always give him the job. One of the reasons our local league can never grow, most of our local coaches see themselves as better than foreign when they have not been able to get pass group stages in CAF club’s league In Africa.
Talking about Nwabali, he is not yet there. You can’t compare a goal keeper that have walls standing in front of him to those that don’t have such privileges. Okoye won best goalkeeper in Netherland, make it in England, and now in Italy. Don’t tell me because he was born abroad ooo. Uzodo was not born abroad before he is having numerous champions league experience. What of Onana, Chelsea goalkeeper, were they born abroad also. Time shall tell, this was how uzodo performed in the World Cup that we all sang his praise, but today we are all castigating him.
TRIBERISIM COACH HE PACH HAUSA PEOPLE FULL THE FORWARDERS
YOU BETTER DO GO SELECTION FOR TRIBES
NO Opeyemi Ajakaye (or Comfort Folorunsho) in the Falconets’ list….hmmmm
Some forumites are just crazy. How do you determine a players age by mere looks. Please come abroad and see kids that look like Full blown woman and woman, we are just quick to criticize our coaches when they select certain players. Please no one is interested in your silly assumptions
Silly assumptions indeed. If you are open to research, you might as well read “Age fraud in association football” on Wikipedia and carefully analyze with member region has been the main culprit in age fraud.
If Bosso and his crew were not up to some mischief, the Nduka Ugbade under 17 squad that fluffed their lines months ago would have been building blocks of an ambitious nation.
Why again must he call up “unknown” names when MRI tried to build up a team for us at the under 17 level? Oh, because he did not discover them?
Here when birth certificates are still forged without whims? Anyway, foreign born pros have mercifully come to the rescue.
Let him win AAG with “developing” players na
“If Bosso and his crew were not up to some mischief, the Nduka Ugbade under 17 squad that fluffed their lines months ago would have been building blocks of an ambitious nation.”
Simple, brilliant, straightforward logic.
Those very talented and truly under 17 Ugbade boys o that unluckily crashed out.
Thank you.
The vast majority of the players on this list were in Fatai Amoo U17 squad that came second at the U17 WAFU tournament in 2021. The U17 AFCON and the U17 WorldCup was cancelled that year because of COVID. Therefore, most of them went through the MRI process.
As much as we have foreign born talents we also have a substantial amount of academy talents scattered across Nigeria. Besides as a foreign born player if you don’t have the talents and abilities of players like Lookman Iwobi Bassey Ajayi Ekong and Aina please continue with your club career we don’t need you.