It’s too early to rate U-17, U-20 players as future Eagles, says Lawal

Former international, Garba Lawal, has cautioned against undue expectations of the current players in the national U-20 and U-17 teams, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets, whom many have tagged as future Super Eagles’ stars following their successes at recent West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone B junior tournaments.

Since the teams won the WAFU competitions and qualified for this year’s African junior championships, many pundits have compared them to past junior national teams, with some rating the players as future world beaters.

But Lawal advised Nigerians to temper expectations with caution. Speaking to The Guardian, yesterday, Lawal said: “These players we are talking about here have not even gone to the AFCON yet. Let us not forget that they have to first go to the AFCON to qualify for the cadet World Cups proper.

“It is not just only qualification, let us wait and see the rest of the teams they will face at the two AFCON competitions; we cannot just jump into conclusions.

“Some of the players currently playing in the Super Eagles did well at the U17 World Cups and some of them even won titles, before they graduated to play in the senior national team.

“It is after playing at the World Cup that we can begin to think of them as Super Eagles materials. These will also be determined by opportunities that will come for them,” he explained.