Golden Eaglets’ coach to invite new players as camp resumes soon

The Nigeria U-17 national team, Golden Eaglets, will resume camping mid November for the 2019 Africa U-17 championship billed for Tanzania.Speaking with The Guardian, assistant coach of the team, Nduka Ugbade, stated that they would be resuming the first phase of camping for the Africa championship in the middle of next month, while the final phase of camping will begin in December.

He noted that Coach Manu Garba and his backroom staff have started beaming their searchlight on more talented players at the grassroots to be invited to the cadet team.

The former Super Eagles player declared that the success of the Golden Eaglets at the zonal Africa qualifiers, which took place in Niger Republic, recently would not stop the technical crew from injecting new players to beef up the squad.

Ugbade also ruled out automatic shirt for players in the team, stressing that the Golden Eaglets handlers had put structures in place to pick the best players on merit for the Africa U-17 championship next year.

“The Golden Eaglets camp is likely to open in the middle of November for the first phase of camping. This first phase will be focused on screening new players. Base on the fact that the African championship in Tanzania has been moved from March to April 2019, we have to begin the second phase by December this year. The coach has to get at least 40 players in camp to fight for shirt, and also to find replacement for the players that failed the MRI test.

“Also, various departments of the team need to be re-organised by testing some players that can fit into that position. We need more players in camp just in case any injury comes up. Our target is to map out strategies to enable the boys play as a team, and also make all the department of the Golden Eaglets solid,” Ugbade stated.