Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets booked a place in the semi -final of the WAFU B U-17 Championship following a comfortable 3-0 victory over Togo in their final Group B game on Thursday.
The game was shifted from Wednesday to Thursday morning after heavy rain rendered the University Stadium pitch unplayable.
The Eaglets took control of the game from the blast of the whistle and scored the curtain raiser through Abdulmuiz Adeleke following an assist from Abdulmuiz Oladimeji.
Rapha Adams nodded home the second from captain Simon Cletus’ sublime cross 10 minutes before the break.
Read Also:Lookman Becomes 18th Player To Receive Perfect 10/10 Rating From L’Equipe
It was Adam’s second goal of the competition.
Adeleke scored his brace after collecting a through pass from Cletus three minutes before the hour mark.
The young forward missed the chance to complete his hat-trick when he missed from the spot on 68 minutes.
Manu Garba’s side top Group B with seven points from three games and will face Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-final.
Hosts Ghana and Burkina Faso will clash in the other semi-final.
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COMMENTS
The eaglet number 4 jersey Destiny is a midfield marshall.The team is playing with better cohesion with more games.I think the’re yet to peak.
Some fantastic individual displays from the lads,i will applaud Manu Garba for a great job despite obstacles from his employers.
That number 4 destiny Samuel is a replica of Ndidi.. but he makes better passes than Ndidi.. infact all the midfield players are good , is it Cletus with two assists today or the number 8.. Cletus plays with iwobi and Mikel put together!
Another player that is impressive is their central defender.. can’t remember his shirt number or his name.. many people do not remember that this team is yet to conced a single goal but they should watch it,. We have been lucky not to have conceded penalties in all the Three games,. Dominic our goal keeper also looks good..
I wish them well in the next game
Yes he reminds me of Fegur Ogude.
I am not a fan of rushing players into the Senior national team, but that Cletus of a kid is one player that needs to be invited into the SE right after this tournament to “build confidence” and start getting blooded into top level football gradually…..not some damn 35 year old NPFL player (masquerading as a 21 year old) who can not get signed straight into Al Hilal of Sudan or Simba of Tanzania.
That boy has a football brain of an established international already.
I totally agree @ Dr Drey
As the great Matt Busby said,’ if you’re good enough, you’re old enough’.
I agree!
I have been following u 17 games since the days of Mikel obi and I must admit attacking midfielders are very rare in this country.. currently iwobi is the only player in the super eagles that can give that creative pass from the middle and knows how to manage tight spaces.. this is why he sometimes gets so relaxed because there are no players to compete with him..
Cletus is a rare commodity.. Nigeria football is not so good at producing attacking midfielders.. where did many Garba get this boy from? Nice discovery..
What about young and vibrant Joseph Atule of Eyimba? He will give Lookman a run for his money.
With Joseph Atule running rampage in the attack, and the effervescent Uzoho manning the goal post, NIGERIA WILL BE UNSTOPPABLE.
Atule is the man. Lookman just dey learn work where Atule dey.
But are u reaaaaaallllyyyyy sure about this your uzoho abi u wan cause little comotion here @pompei!!!! Lol…
Lol….the guy was being sarcastic.
Oakfield, siddon there.
Uzoho that is about to win African goalkeeper of the year.
E go shock all of una.
Deo and Pompei are not serious at all. Lmaoooooooooo! Una just wan make LWKMD.
Lol
If Germany, England, and Brazil can cap 17 and 16 year olds why can’t we start giving these kids confidence.. Some of our Nigerian kids are better than likes of Yamine Lamal, Endrick, Warren Zaire-Emery. All these players have made full senior debuts before 16…..Even Senegal capped Amara Diouf at 15. That no 10 in our team is a serious talent and should be groomed now.
Sorry not before 16 but before 17/18***. Nigeria has this dumb mentality that no matter how prodigious one is, you will still be deemed too young.
Yes, I agree that if a young man has washed his hands properly, he is ready to eat with kings.
But as with all things in life, let’s proceed with a little caution.
Cletus is doing great against U-17 amateurs. The biggest stage is an entirely different ball game.
Imagine Cletus coming up against the likes of Frank Kessie, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Declan Rice, Gundogan, Koopmeiners, Anguissa? Yes, he perhaps can rub shoulders with battle hardened midfield veterans like these guys, but the experience could make or break him. If he does well, confidence skyrockets. If he fails, he could be destroyed completely.
So yes, he can be invited to the SE to come swim with the big boys, but we must proceed with caution. Don’t throw the young lad straight into the fire, lest he’s consumed! Try him first in a friendly, then gradually proceed from there.
Nah Pompei, Mainoo is on his way to Euro 2024, just after a couple of good touches. Cletus has the brain, he will learn the rest while on the job. We haven’t had this type of player in the SE for a very long time. He should be called up now.
Oga Abdul….that’s the fastest way to destroy the boy’s career before it takes off. Throw an SS1 student in Super Eagles. He needs to do this gradually, abeg…We do not need to rush him or we destroy him psychologically from the get go if he fails.. Die die please
Henry Nwosu was still in secondary school when he won the 1980 with the SE on home soil. He went on to be our main 10 for close to a decade till when Ekpo emerged.
Calling Cletus up regularly to camp and giving him 10-15 minutes of play time beginning with friendlies will not harm him. It will even help him get a good club and he can take that experience back to the U20s and U23s and develop more from there.
Abdul, Mainoo plays for the senior team of Man United! Cletus is playing with U-17 amateurs wey never even grow finish.
Not taking anything away from Cletus, who has been brilliant so far.
Hmmm. e ku oowee…. Bi omode ba m’owo we, o ni lati ba agba je…Thank you
You got it, brother.
Pompei….thank God we are not meeting any of the above listed anytime soon…..we will only be meeting some south African league and french/european lower division midfielders in the coming months. We can start giving cletus 5-10 minutes of gametime (per adventure we are not losing) like we gave Mikel and Iwobi when he debuted for us at teenage.
Agreed.
Ideally, we can give him even more time in a friendly, where there is nothing at stake. Then from there, we can gradually move him into the business end of things.
We are not giving him anything. Daniel Daga is next Rabiu Ibrahim.
Dr Drey, Cletus is not ready for the big time.
Daniel Daga is there. He has continental and league experience at a higher level. How you can advocate for Cletus ahead of Daga is beyond belief. A whole NPFL player.
Let’s project objectivity in our social media discourse.
Thank you.
And, by the by, Joseph Atule will give your Lookman a run for his Super Eagles money.
A whole NPFL player.
Deo, please stop it.
I’m dying of laughter here!
I do not advocate for Daga because we are not short of DMs in the SE in the immediate and near future. We have Ndidi, Onyeka, Onyedika, Yusuf (the last 2 still fringe players, and pretty young too).
Daga calls himself a 16 year old, but we all know there is nothing 16 about that lad. He knew MRI was gonna expose him and rather chose to go start out with the U20s. Cletus is MRI certified…infact Grade 4 MRI sef. I’ll rather invest my time and money on him than on Daga
Moreover, Iwobi is the ONLY natural AM we have in the SE now. Forget the daydreams we usually have of Olise and Eze…..there is no heir to the 10 position in the SE currently and Iwobi is already nearing his 28th birthday. We’ve only been trying to ‘convert’ players from their natural positions to play 10 in recent times when Iwobi is unavailable, reducing the overall efficiency of the team. In Cletus we already have one….a NATURAL 10….and that’s being OBJECTIVE. Despite being a high school lad, the kid has the brain of an accomplished professional in that position already.
Though an U17, any AM that can average 1 assist per game is good enough to play for any senior squad, maybe not a starter, but as a prospect
So why not start grooming the boy from now….together with Akinsanmiro if I may add.
Ivory Coast next in semi final, boy shd revenge the AFCON for there big brothers.
Good job! So what’s up? Have we qualified for U17 AFCON with this win? I didn’t watch the game, but seems Cletus is the real deal.
Finidi, open your ears.
You must invite the rampaging Joseph Atule for the upcoming world cup qualifiers. We need him to pair Lookman in the attack.
If you don’t gerrit, forgerrabout it.
Personally, I think it’s rather premature for Simon Cletus to be considered for the Super Eagles because the encounters we have on hand are quite monumental in importance.
These days, there are plentiful other meaty competitions where Cletus can use to earn his spurs. I think Ladan Bosso should include him in the next Under-20 squad. I also think he should be included in the fulcrum of the next Under-23 squad.
But for the Super Eagles, it’s just a bit too early for me.
The oppositions he will be up against will be physically stronger and more experienced. I don’t think it’s wise to throw the young lad into the deep end. It might hurt and scar his confidence.
Cletus has been wonderful to watch. His vision, composure, movement and defence splitting passes remind me of 2013 version Kelechi Iheanacho who would end up being converted to a centre forward in senior level football.
Who knows? Five years from now Cletus might wind up being a defensive midfielder or centre forward in senior level football. At this stage, he is still mouldable and pliable. There is no telling where he will fit in senior level football based on a laudable performance in a sub-regional tournament.
Good luck to Cletus.
This was what Pep Guadiola thought of Cole Palmer leading up to selling the boy to Chelsea.
The rest they say is history.
The boy who wasn’t deemed ready for Man City practically carried a billion dollar club on his back the whole season, emerged as runner up on the goals leaderboard (from and AM position) and won 2 player of the season awards in his debut season at the club.
Dr Drey,
Ultimately it’s up to the national team handlers. At least Michael Owen shook the world as a teenager in the 1998 world cup.
There are always cases to be made either way but for me, I would recommend this lad cutting his teeth in various under age tournaments to build confidence, gradually.
If we have lots of examples of players who have been given a chance in their senior national at that age and they have excelled then it means it is possible and useful to have this boy genius have some form experience with the senior national team.
Sometimes, we always want to think in the negative like if he did not measure up and lose confidence.
The question is if he measures up and become a revelation. This is also possible.
Cletus is a genius. With proper management, he can be invited to have some experience with the super eagles.
We have suffered for many years in this area in the super eagles. If we have a coach and a bench that can manage this boy,we can an Henry nwosu in our hands. Nwosu started very young too with super eagles.
Realistically we don’t have too many decent players playing AM and nobody is saying he should become a full senior regular but maybe after the u17 Afcon depending on his performance 10-15 mins or just camping with the big boys can do alot for this teenager. Since Okocha we have not had a real 10 which is a damn shame. We need a natural 10 for the future and he doesn’t have to be as skillful as Okocha but know his job as an AM.
That Cletus boy must be protected and nurtured properly. The midfield and the defense is giving me joy for the future. They are gradually gelling as a team. That’s why I said it’s still the GoldenEaglets. Kudos to Manu Garba.