26th March, 2014
Golden Eaglets of Nigeria are on the march again as the screening of new players that would defend the FIFA U-17 World Cup title won last year in the United Arab Emirates, UAE, begins in Abuja on Thursday.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has finalised arrangement for the smooth take off of the usual gruelling exercise at the practice pitch of the NFF/FIFA Goal Project Site.
Team Administrator, Tayo Egbaiyelo informed that players would be called up in batches in order to create an enabling environment for the coaching crew to pick the budding talents.
Speaking ahead of the exercise, Golden Eaglets’ coach Emmanuel Amuneke said he has combed the nooks and crannies of the country in the last one month to fish out some raw talents.
The first batch of 35 players are due in camp on Wednesday in order to commence the screening on Thursday. More than 4000 players took part in similar exercise before the 2013 World Cup-winning team was assembled by coach Manu Garba who was incidentally assisted by Amuneke.
The NFF recently promoted Garba and Nduka Ugbade to the Under-20 team while leaving behind the duo of Amuneke and Emeka Amadi (goalkeepers’ trainer) to handle the Under-17 team.
The 2015 Africa Under-17 Championship will be held in Niger. Golden Eaglets are already drawn bye into the second round of the cadet
Championship by CAF and would meet the winners of the first round tie between Burundi and Congo DR with the first leg scheduled for 18-20 July, while the reverse fixture will be played between 1-3 August.