The Nigeria Golden Eaglets will on Wednesday morning depart the shores of the country for Tanzania ahead of the forthcoming U-17 African Cup of Nations.
The Nigeria cadet team is set to leave their Abuja camp very early on Wednesday according to Coach Manu Garba who confirmed the travel plans in Abuja on Tuesday night.
’We will be leaving very early on Wednesday in order to partake in the CAF’s MRI routine, Garba said.
It should be noted that Five members of the national U17 team, the Golden Eaglets that helped the team lift the WAFU B U17 Championship in Niger Republic won’t be part of the squad to the U17 Africa Cup of Nations as they failed to scale through the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.
The test is usually done to help know if the players are within the age limit for the tournament, no thanks to the menace of age cheats which has seen some teams parade players that are older than the stipulated age range for the tournament.
Top among the list is one of the best players in the Nigerian team, goalkeeper John Ikedinachukwu Amah who had a near perfect display at the WAFU B Championship which Nigeria won on penalty kicks after drawing 1-1 with Ghana in the final.
Also the left and right full backs of the team Muhammed Ibrahim and Babatunde Akinsola Jimoh were also knocked out by the scan, same as influential left footed midfielder Hassan Hussein and striker Favor Akeem.
The development means the technical crew will now focus on players who are second choice and some third choice to the aforementioned players in their positions for the tournament in Tanzania which kicks off on the 14th of April.
Eight Nations are expected to turn up in Tanzania for the cadet Championship.
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Twitter @profseunoyediji
