Nigeria’s U-17 national team coach, Manu Garba, says his charges are not yet ready for the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup finals billed for Brazil later this month, Completesports.com reports.
Garba stirred the hornets nest when he said his present squad is not likely to deliver the diadem in Brazil.
Winner of the global championship in Dubai, UAE in 2013, Garba pointed out that the UEFA/CAF International Tournament in Turkey proved an ideal opportunity for him to appraise the team.
“The players we have at the moment, I doubt, cannot deliver for the country at the upcoming U-17 World Cup in Brazil,” Garba lamented when Completesports.con called him up.
The three games we played gave the technical crew opportunity to assess the players and of course identify some errors in the team,” Garba said.
Garba pointed out that the Golden Eaglets’ 4-2 defeat to Senegal in the tournament was painful and avoidable.
“We were leading 2-1 before half time, but losing the game 4-2 in the second half was painful and of course avoidable,” he added
“The same (Senegalese) team travelled to France for another tournament before coming to play in the UEFA/CAF tournament in Turkey.
“The Senegalese prepared better than any other team. They had eight players that played in the All Africa Games and they were in France for another competition before coming to Turkey.
“We were not supposed to lose the game to them but for the errors we noticed in the team.
“We went to Turkey to assess all the players that went there, and to be candidz those players cannot give us the desired results in the World Cup.
“Before we left, we identified some players who if they pass the MRI tests will add value to the team.
“But we will continue to step up our preparation, especially with the training tour in Brazil with 30 players and everything working out fine, we will select our final 21-man team from the 30 in Brazil,” Garba concluded.
Nigeria Football Federation has organised a training camp for the team in Sao Paulo, Brazil ahead of the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup finals holding in the Samba Nation, from 26 October until 17 November.
They are billed to depart Nigeria on October 8 for the training camp in Brazil.
By Sab Osuji
4 Comments
That’s too bad for a five time world cup winner but coach Garba how long have you been with this lads ,you’ve been handling cadet teams for getting to 8 years now you should know how African teams play dont point accusing fingers on them, you said you was leading 2 – 1 at half time that means the Senegalese coach read the pattern the golden Eaglets are playing and talked to his boys and you didnt do nothing to talk to your boys how to increase the goals or to score an earlier goal to close the game , coach Garba you and Nduka should wake up ,this is the second tournament your boys are failing.
This coach does not know what he is saying. He should check comments of other coaches regarding their team as no coach will say a team he has been putting together for many months is not ready just few days to a major tournament. As a coach who has been on the beat for many years, merely seeing a player, he should know if he has the prerequisite to be a national team player at that level. He will only go further by organizing trial matches to build the team an enable cohesion. The coach is looking for an excuse for himself in event of failure. If the NFF has not organized enough friendliest for the team, he ought to have cried out loud 3 months before now. If he is a competent coach he supposed to have combed the length and breadth of the country for underaged players. The talents abound everywhere, in Lagos, Edo, Delta, Plateau and Nasarawa states you can find talents in short supply. MRI issue supposed to have been raised long before now if the coach knows what he is doing. He is part of NFF problem and the country is not going to take any excuses from him for failure. He has decided to take up the job and should either deliver or be fired. See England’s coach Lampard and Gareth Southgate. They are using the resources at their disposal to lift up their career and their country. They are ex- Internationals. I think more of our ex footballer who have seen it all should be challenged to go into coaching of our football teams so that they can bring in their wealth of experience. The NFF should pay more attention to our youth teams, the U15, U17, U20 and U23. Most of our U17s such as Chukwueze, Umeruo, Azeez, Awoniyi, Iheanacho, Ndidi, Etebo, Nwakali et al grew up to take their places in the national team, the Super Eagles as they were monitored and mentored upon discovering their talents. England national team is what it is today because of emphasis on youth programme. The average age of their players is probably 23 years as they are looking up to the future. The NFF and the Nigerian coaches need. to wake up from their slumber in order to deliver to Nigerians quality football and players that we can be proud of. A word is enough for a wise.
For a coach who put together one of the most exciting and attacking U-17 squads of 2013, I find it incomprehensible that Garba is less than upbeat about his present side. I only hope he has something up his sleeves and only playing mind games. Bear in mind that his 2013 boys were not even the African U-17 champions before going to the UAE for the U-17 World Cup. Let’s hope for the best.
D.y.a