Eaglets Set For U-17 WAFU Competition

Volleyball players in action during a national tournament in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, recently.

The national Under-17
male team, Golden Eaglets, will participate in a six-nation sub-regional West African Football (WAFU) Under-17 Tournament in Togo, an official said.
The team’s Media Officer, Morakinyo Abodunrin who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja said the Nigerian team has been pooled in Group B with Niger and Mali.
The competition will hold from April 19 to April 27.
According to the statement, Golden Eaglets’ head coach Emmanuel Amuneke is expected to name a provisional list of 30 players for the competition soon.
The statement quoted Amuneke as saying the team’s technical crew was clear about its objectives of players meeting a particular standard.
It said the coach’s comment was in reaction to the impression that players were not given adequate playing time to showcase their talents.
The team had on March 27 started a two-week open screening to select players ahead of the African U-17 Championship qualifiers.
“We are clear about our objectives and there is a certain standard we are expecting from players even at this level.
“We are doing our best to ensure that everybody is given the opportunity to show what they can do,’’ Amuneke said in the statement.
He added that the on-going screening exercise would be rounded off soon so as to give room for concentration.
“The screening exercise will be rounded off this weekend in order for the coaching crew to concentrate efforts on the players to be picked eventually for the WAFU competition.
“And we are going to give opportunity to other players, even after the competition in Togo. Nothing is conclusive yet as we build towards the African qualifiers,” added Amuneke.
Hosts Togo are in Group A alongside Benin and Cote d’ Ivoire for the competition.