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Barely one month to the 2024 WAFU B U-17 tournament in Ghana, Golden Eaglets coach, Manu Garba, said he has invited 51 players to camp, ahead of the tournament, which will be played from May 15 to 29 in Accra, Ghana, The PUNCH reports.
The coach hinted that the team’s camp would open on Wednesday (today) for the WAFU tournament, which serves as qualifiers for next year’s U-17 AFCON.
Garba was appointed by the Nigeria Football Federation as the substantive coach of the team last Friday. He had previously led the team to Nigeria’s fourth U-17 World Cup triumph in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 and he also served as an assistant to the late Yemi Tella during the 2007 triumph in South Korea.
On his return, the 58-year-old’s first task is getting a team for next month’s tournament in Ghana and he is optimistic about discovering more talents for the country.
“I have just submitted the list of 51 players that will open camp hopefully on Wednesday (today),” Garba told Totori News.
“I have scouted most of those players, and some lists were given to me by some stakeholders. But I believe in the majority of the players I have scouted on my own, I have mandated them to have their MRI scan before they come to camp.
“Despite the short period to the WAFU tournament, I am very optimistic that we will raise a good team that will qualify for the AFCON because that is our primary assignment for now,” the coach added.
“We have short time to scout for players. They might not be the players that will play all through the AFCON and the World Cup. As we play friendly matches, there is the likelihood that we might see better players than we have in camp. We will tell such players to go for their MRI scan and fight for places.
“I’ve done that several times with the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi and co, who were not part of the screening, and look at what Taiwo is now playing for one of the EPL clubs, Nottingham Forest.”
Nigeria won the last edition of the WAFU B tournament after they defeated Burkina Faso in the sub-regional final two years ago in Ghana.
They were, however, beaten by Burkina Faso in the quarter-finals of the U-17 AFCON in Algeria last year and missed out on the U-17 World Cup as a
result.
