Nigeria Targets Milo Football Tourney Title

The country’s representa
tives in the 3rd edition of the Nestle Milo African U-13 Football Championship have completed the first phase of closed camping at the Kwara State Football Academy, Ilorin.
The head coach of the team, Paul Odey, told newsmen in Lagos that the players were now ready for the tournament.
St. Barnabas LGEA of Ilorin won the national U-13 championship and will represent Nigeria at the tournament to be hosted in Lagos at the Campos Square Sports Centre.
South Africa, Ghana and Kenya are the other countries that will take part in the championship  scheduled to hold from May 29 to 31.
“We have completed the camping exercise which was scheduled to last two weeks and the boys have been primed to face any opposition at their level.
“The important thing is that they responded very well to the drills we put them through and this can be seen in the number of friendly matches they played and won,” Odey said .
The coach expressed satisfaction with the depth of strength the boys have built up, saying that “we put them through three hours of football daily.
“It is significant that they played at the same strength and in fact, stronger in the second friendly match they played and winning both games”.
He said though the Ilorin camping programme had been completed, he would be working with the boys daily until they were called for the final closed camping.
“We just have to keep up with the boys so that they don’t lose the stamina gained during the period they were in camp.
“We will keep a close tab on them in the period they will be out of closed camping.
“The Nigerian squad is expected to undergo another camping exercise at the International Football Academy in Wasimi, Ogun State,’’ he said.
The biennial football event was first hosted by South Africa in 2010 and saw Nigeria’s representative Ashegun School, Oyo State lifting the trophy.
In 2012, Ghana hosted and won, while Nigeria was represented by St. Stephens School, Lagos.