Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets lost 1-0 to Côte d’Ivoire in the semi-finals of the WAFU B U-17 tournament in Ghana on Saturday.
With the defeat, the Eaglets will not be at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations and also miss out on qualification to the World Cup.
The hero for the Ivorians was Youbah Coulibaly as he got the only goal in the 54th minute.
Also Read: Orban Benched As PSG Overcome Lyon To Clinch Coup de France
Coulibaly’s impressive performance against the Eaglets saw him win the Man of the Match award.
The junior Elephants have now qualified for the U-17 AFCON tournament.
They will take on Burkina Faso in the final while the Eaglets and Ghana will face off in the third-placed game.
To get to the final, Burkina Faso shocked hosts Ghana 2-1 in the first semi-finals also played on Saturday.
Got what it Takes?
Predict and Win Millions Now
COMMENTS
HOPE NFF IS HAPPY NOW. BUNCH OF USELESS ADMINISTRATORS. LET NO ONE COME FOR MANU HERE.
With the defeat, the Eaglets will not be at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations and also miss out on qualification to the World Cup.
We have said it before now, Nigeria Government is not serious for positive change. From top to bottom, things were bad.
I watch the match, the eaglet devoid of tactical discipline. It tells that the players were not properly filtered as a result of fire brigade approach.
Well,
Individual talents were lacking in the team.
I just hope things will get better. APC destroy the structure of this country.
Check ur last line and tell me if you make any sense, last match when they won 3-0, you all clapping for them right? Learn to loose as it’s part of life.
Can we now see the justification for my scathing remarks against this NFF under Gusau? These people are like bad jokes that never end. Their approach to youth development is not just useless; it’s a masterclass in hypocrisy.
Since 2016, Nigeria’s U17 team has been a global embarrassment. Gusau and his band of merry men-just like Pinick and his own packet of merry men-are eroding our once-proud youth football legacy with all the grace of a drunk elephant on roller skates.
Look at how our dear Golden Eaglets, a team that used to be our strongest national team since 1985, were outplayed,ourmeanouvered and placed on a slaughter slab by a well-oiled Ivorian team. Do you blame the poor kids when in actual fact, they were disgracefully slapped together last minute and sent to get thrashed on the continental stage. The NFF’s “brilliant” strategy of poor preparation and corrupt player recruitment is a recipe for that disaster. Seriously, what were they expecting from a team assembled just days before a regional tournament? The NFF thinks assembling an U17 team is like making instant noodles. Three weeks of camping? They didn’t even have a coach four weeks before the WAFU B competition. Genius planning, folks. Kudos to the NFF.
Under Gusau, our CHAN Eagles, U20, U23, and U17 teams have been a repeated parade of epic failures. Do we even the Beach Eagles anymore? See, that loss yesterday is just another sad chapter in this tragic comedy. It’s almost like Gusau and his crew are trying to set World Guiness Record for incompetence.
Remember the glory days of the 1994 World Cup team? It was packed with players from youth teams spanning 1982 to 1991. The Dream Team that won gold at the Atlanta Olympics was nurtured through the U17 and U20 teams of the early ’90s. Fast forward to 1994-2012, and our football was in a coma, with only three World Cup appearances (where we performed below expectation) and two U17 World Cup titles to show for it. Then came 2013, when graduates from those U17 teams finally made history by winning the AFCON.
Look at today’s Super Eagles: many are from the U17 teams of 2013 and 2015. Even our foreign recruits like Victor Moses and Ademola Lookman came from structured football systems. But the NFF? They act like youth development is an optional extra. They’ve wasted another generation of U17 talents with their sheer laziness and incompetence.
The Super Eagles’ average age is now 27, prime time in football. What’s the plan for post-2026? Crickets. After 1996, we had stars ready to take over: Babayaro for Iroha, Taribo for Okechukwu, Dosu for Rufai, Kanu for Yekini. Now? Who’s ready to replace Osimhen, Iwobi, or Nwabali? No one from the 2016 to 2023 U17 squads has come close to cracking the Super Eagles. Whereas, Kanu almost made the to the world cup 1994, a year after winning the u17 WC with Nigeria. In fact, he led the attack when Nigeria won Afro-Asian Cup in 1995 (2 years after the 1993 u17 success) with Nigeria beatimg Uzbekistan. He also captained the Olympic team who won Atlanta Olympic gold medal in 1996 (3 years after winning the u17 WC in Japan). Facts don’t lie! Indeed, the NFF is turning our football future into a horror show with we are seeing of late.
Again, we all know the U17 team is our ticket to top European clubs, and these kids need to reach at least the semi-finals of a FIFA competition to get properly noticed, otherwise, their journey to the top will be like that of the Three Magi in T.S. Eliot’s popular poem and quite similar to that of the Isrealites on their way to the Promised Land. The likes of Awoniyi, Kanu, Iheanacho, Osimhen, Babayaro and the rest got their breaks after impressive performances at FIFA U17 competitions. But the NFF, with their endless bungling, is throwing away these golden opportunities. Their combination of shoddy preparation, bribery, and corruption is systematically destroying Nigerian football. They’re like the grim reapers of our national sport, and it’s almost impressive—if it weren’t so tragic.
This is just the beginning, no matter how painful it is the truth must be said. You cannot grow a tree from it’s branches. Nigeria have become a country where we only invest in competitions with zero interest in grassroot development. I have repeatedly said it here that the only way up for our football is to take it back to our school system – Primary, Secondary and Tertiary institutions for real and sincere development. If a little country like Jamaica can be dominating the World in Tracks because of grassroot development why can’t Nigeria a country of over 200 million people dominate the soccer World true grassroot/school development .
I hope this does not truncate the career of Cletus and other lads that showed a bit of promise.
NFF, unu do well ooo!
@ Papafem and @ Frank Smith, I agree with your submissions 100%. The NFF should take 90% the blame for this disgrace that Nigeria got in Ghana. Our government and politicians in NFF is not in any way interested in real development of sport/football in Nigeria. They are only interested in quick success and quick personal gain from the sport.
That being said, I also wan to say that 10% of this recent failure of the eaglet is due to the tactical ineptitude of Manu Garba and Nduka Ugbade. This is the first time I will see a Golden eaglet team that lack skills and is very, very indiscipline. If the players Nigeria parade at youth football display lack of skill and indiscipline, it can only mean the players were not selected on merit. Lack of merit in players selection was very glaring in Golden eaglet match against Ivory Coast yesterday. They could not string 3 passes together and could not even complete more than one dribble. This is very, very poor by all standard for Nigeria at under 17 level. You can only blame the coaches for this!
Manu Garba and Nduka Ugbade have proved that they have not and are not willing to upgrade added to their knowledge in football. Manu Garba played 4-4-2 against Ivory Coast’s 4-3-3 in the match. Even with 4 players in the midfield the eaglets could not control the midfield. The Ivorian coach open the game in the first half by playing wide and constantly using the left wing. Manu Garba had no answer to this strategy and eventually, Ivory Coast got their goal from the left flank. This shows that Ivory Coast coach did his home work and knew where the eaglet’s weakness was. That coach is a local coach o! But what did Manu Garba do? He continued with the same 4-4-2 and kept 2 players upfront without any idea of how to open up the Ivorian team. Come on, this is embarrassing for a coach that has won this competition before at the world stage. After the Ivorian scored their goal the coach changed from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and crowded the midfield thereby neutralizing any offensive play from the eaglet since he knew that Manu Garba could not change his strategy to counter what he, the Ivory Coach was doing.
Please I don’t want coaches who are unintelligent and who bluntly refuse to upgrade themselves to be coaches of our national teams. The likes of Danjuma (U 20 female team), Ladan Bosso, Manu Garba, Nduka Ugbade, Salisu Yussuf etc should not be allowed to handle the national teams again. Even if NFF decides to remain perennial bunch of never do good for Nigeria, should the coaches not do their own job and use their intellectual abilities when they are faced with different match situations. Failure to use their intellectual abilities in different match situations means that the coaches lacks what it takes to handle national team assignments and should never be given the job.
As far as the super eagles is concerned, I fear for Nigeria because of Finidi George. This is not because of anything but because of his recent struggle for jersey with a super eagles player. If a coach can do this when he was not the subtansive coach of the super eagles, I am skeptical about his ability to ring progressive changes in the super eagles or during difficult match situations. Finidi George will have to prove me wrong with very good performances as the super eagles coach
All hope is not lost yet. Africa will have ten teams participating in the expanded 48-team U17 FIFA World Cup, which will be held annually in Qatar from 2025 to 2029.
This decision was ratified by FIFA’s council ahead of the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.
The allocation of slots for other regions is as follows: Asia will have nine slots, CONCACAF eight, CONMEBOL seven, Oceania three, and UEFA 11.
This development introduces an exciting change for the next CAF U-17 Nations Cup scheduled for 2025, which will now feature either 16 or 24 teams. The competition is structured into six zones, with each zone traditionally sending two teams. However, under the new format, at least three teams from each zone should qualify.
For Nigeria, the path forward is clear: they must secure a victory in their third-place match against Ghana to maintain their chances. If you have contact with Manu Garba, or know someone who does, please convey this message to him or to the team’s camp. Encourage them with the reminder that all hope is still very much alive.
Are you sure about this?
This has nothing to do with the Nff or the coach, just take a look at the semifinal you have teams that we havnt beaten for years in this particular turnament, the iheanacho and osihmen class couldnt defeat cotedvoir so lets not pretend as if we use to beat them before, the problem here is caf, and i expect Nigeria and Ghana to fight caf over this nonsense zoning things, westafrica is the giant of football in africa, followed by the north africans, bringing westafrica giants to compete their self at this early stage of a prestigious turnament that ignites our football future is a clear propaganda, we will not accept it, mali,ghana,nigeria,senegal,cotdvoir,burkina,etc these are giants and if they beat us we have to respect them and stop complaining, they are as good as we are too wether nff do this or that, but bringing these giants to compete for 2 or 3 spot in africa nations turnament is rubbish and a plan to criple our football in west africa. It must be abolished
@ Collin Id, please let’s not deflect from what we know is the real problem bedeviling our football at all levels. Is it CAF zoning that says NFF should not provide a good avenue for preparation of our national teams? Was it CAF zoning that made NFF to refuse to appoint coach to U 17 until one month to this competition? Is it CAF zoning that says Manu Garba and Nuduka Ugbade should refuse to upgrade themselves or be unable to read matches and deploy appropriate strategies? Was it CAF zoning that says Nigeria should never select players on merit?
Yes, CAF zoning is harmful to development of African youth football for both male and female. But we should Please, stop giving this excuse of CAF zoning as reason for Nigeria to refuse to do things right. If the eaglets were good yesterday, they would have defeated Ivory Coast. The team was not good period, and the coaches leaves much to be desired.
Josh men. You are one of the few people who make me come here to comment on Nigerian football.
What do you mean by not beaten in years?, is it not the same ivory coast that the eaglets trashed two years ago in Ghana, at the last edition? EnRoute to becoming champions?
@Josh, don’t forget that the same Manu Garba you are trying to condemn defeated the whole world in this cadet category. By the way, when was he appointed the coach of this team? 3 weeks to a crucial tournament as this! The players were hurriedly assembled and the coach didn’t get to see much of the players. His past selections were merit based and produced very good players for the Super Eagles. His players used to be highly disciplined and played beautiful football. This time around, NFF, with their fire brigade approach, should take all the blame. Dr. Drey is a realist and earlier predicted this. What happened to the Eaglet is not unexpected except we are trying to deceive ourselves.
@ Afeez, my comment may appear like a condemnation. However, I implore you to read my comments carefully. I clearly stated that Manu Garba has not upgraded himself and that he could not decode the strategy of the Ivorian coach. As for selection of players on merit, you and I know how things work in Nigeria, especially when it comes to selecting sportsmen and sportswomen to represent Nigeria. Please watch the eaglet against Ivory Coast. It’s on YouTube.
It is an agreed fact that Manu Garba won U 17 world cup and produced very good players some of whom are still very relevant and dependable in the super eagles till date. But the concern still remains that he has not upgraded or developed himself and he could not read the match yesterday against Ivory Coast. That is a minus for him. This is also the reason why he has been unable to transition successfully as a coach to the Under 20 flying eagles and may yet continue to be a problem for him.
In all these, NFF have their own problem which we all know. But our coaches also have their share of the blame. They need to upgrade themselves and not continue to rely on yesterday’s achievement.
Kindly tell us what Garba didn’t learn so far.The boys were playing tired, they had only 24 hours to recover for that match. Se you think say na beans to be running up and down. Please free Garba from this. Justin like it was pointed time was limited for him to examine some of this boys. It was obvious their was no cohension in the team and that only should tell you they weren’t fully prepared for the tournament. So let NFF take all the blame for this. I hope Nigeria can beat Ghana so as to qualify for the next round.
Even if the Golden Eaglets had been better prepared for the tournament, they could still have lost yesterday’s match.
Manu Garba’s boys had a decent tournament. They aced their group stage but only fell short to a luckier Ivory Coast on the day.
Luckier, yes luckier. It’s not that the Golden Eaglets didn’t create scoring opportunities, their chances just failed to hit the back of net.
Okay I thought the Golden Eaglets were poor in the first half as they allowed themselves to placed under pressure. But they roused from their slumber and picked up the pace in the second half but it Ivory Coast defended with their lives.
These boys showed a lot of promise and created some truly memorable and fabulous moments in the tournament. If Ladan Bosso is serious he will keep tabs on the bulk of these players and swiftly migrate them into the Flying Eagles.
Thanks to the Golden Eaglets for not putting Nigeria to shame. They helped as a team with sparks of individual brilliance here and there. They showed me that with a extensive scouting exercise and robust planning and preparation, Nigeria still has exciting talents at this level.
Winning at all costs in U-17 football should never be the overarching objective.
As I mentioned earlier, I look forward to seeing many of these fabulous lads in the next Flying Eagles and Under 23 squads with some hopefully fast tracked to the Homebase Super Eagles.
Thanks Manu Garba and the boys.
Let us not give excuse for failure that is becoming endemic in our football especially at the youth level. Our school systems produced our soccer stars of yesteryears but for some selfish reasons we took soccer out of our school system by killing Academicals and Principal cup competitions. Let us go back and even make it bigger this time. The United States develop all sports through their school systems and we can all see how dominant they are in sports, we use to be like that in the past when sporting activities was a part of our school curriculum at the primary and secondary levels.
Oga, even if we take football development to creches and kindergartens, 2 weeks of preparation is never going to win us any continental tournament.
Ghana camped abroad and they still lost,if you like train two years you will still lost
Nduka Ugbade team won it… His team also dominated all opponents at the African U-17 AFCON proper… That team of Ugbade were very talented and well-coached and I was proud of them even when they lost to Burkina Faso whom they had earlier beaten… Nduka Ugbade should have been left to continue with the team or paired with Manu… they worked together before but Manu Garba
was given back the task of handling the team and he has football agents and business men academy club owners sent him players who clearly were not good enough and had acquired their slots with bribes as we all know… those Manu boys are just average at best I already saw it from the first game… even the Cletus guy though good plays too much to the gallery.
I so much agree with write-up, Nduka should have being left to continue. The team he assembled at the last tournament was a complete and sound team. Ill luck didn’t let them go far.
It is time for these local coaches to protest against the ineptitude of thus administration fire brigade attitude. Now everyone is blaming Manu and refuse to blame the root cause of this Problem which is tgat Aboki that has nothing to offer as FA president. The local coaches should begin to pritect their integrity by rejecting offers from NFF that lack good preparation. If they can be bold enough to stage a protest led by Technical Director that we need to do things rightly, things will change.Blame not Manu but Gusau.
If this is how far Manu Garba could take us after being appointed U17 coach just 30 days to the competition, then I think he deserves a National Award.
That man must be a magician.
As at 14 days to the tournament about 85% (or thereabout) of the players he had managed to assemble were ruled out by MRI for being above grade 4, yet he still managed to raise a team that topped its group without conceeding a goal (even with a man down vs Niger for almost an entire half)
Once again, I doff my hat for Manu.
By the time we lined up to play CIV last night, 2 of is starting CBs were out, a left winger had to play left-back because his left backs too were out, yet it was our own profligacy in front of goal that ultimately undid all the good work of the last 14 days.
It is one thing to claim we have many talents in all the 774 LGs in Nigeria, its another thing to be able to visit all those local governments in 14 days, find the talents, subject them to MRI scans, raise a team of MRI-compliant players, blend them together and take them to the battle field……ALL in 14 Days.
Once again, Mr Manu Garba is a man with a brave heart.
Will we learn from this….? I doubt it.
We are still living in fools paradise at every level of our football thinking this is the 90s when we could raise any team to go face the rest of Africa at the tap of the finger.
More shocks await….!!!
Nigerians are a very funny people. They want to win WAFU with a 2 week old team in 2024…..LMAOoo
Ghana camped abroad and they still lost,if you like train two years you will still lost
I watched part of the match and observed the level of maturity and calmness displayed even though they were down by a lone goal and the ivorians were defending with their lives, I could but be consoled that much I hate NFF approach, these boys gave their all and showed they have talents.
Thank you boys and thank you Garba for what you did with these talent, I wish you better luck next match.
I predict if these eaglet manage to scale through, not only Africa will feel them the world will partake of their artistry.
A nation of blackmailers. Professionals in recycling mediocrity.
No one should forget that a certain Team from Delta state won this current U 17 team. Believe me the coaching crew dimmed it not fit ,picking some lads from such team to beaf-up the team. But corruption won’t allow them to do that.
A certain team….?!
Can you please confitm that that team had players who were MRI grade 4 and below…? Or you think they just go about cherrypicking any and everybody into the U17 national team these days…?
Dr Drey. Don’t mind him. He didn’t know. A certain team!!!! Okponku, you are wrong. They don’t just use a certain team or certain players these days. MRI will fish them out.
Many Garba Thank you for giving us the natural number 10 that we have been looking for.
If we have a good system, winning at all cost at this level is not necessary.
A good system will have a plan to to nurture and monitor the good players in the team so that they can move forward to higher levels in the national team.
If we lose this Cletus boy then we may not find a natural 10 again in the next fifty years.
But all glory to God, with new fifa plans we will still qualify.
I watched Nigeria three matches, they played well,in football there’s what we called luck, for instance Man City played together for years but average Man United defeated them ,luck was against our golden eaglet against ivory coast, imagine Ghana defeated same ivory coast 5goals one, but bukina faso won Ghana and Ivory Coast defeated us and some people are here blaming camping for two years,do you know that Ghana camped abroad and still lost,thank God I have the opportunity to watched the matches some foolish people that didn’t watch the match are here blaming NFF for the lost, in summary some players in the team didn’t have luck, number 13 and number 9 if you like camped them 3years they will not play anything,but am having seeing chibuike playing defence with confidence, dribbling ivory coast attackers,Cletus is a delight to watch,others are quota system players that’s why we lost ,is not because of camping but because of luck and quota system