Garba waits on NFF as time ticks for African U-17 Championship

Golden Eaglets Coach, Manu Garba is worried by the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) delay in releasing camping details of his team’s preparation for the African U-17 Nations Cup scheduled for Tanzania in April.

The coach told The Guardian yesterday that he has submitted his programme for the championship to the NFF, adding that the team’s technical crew has finished arrangements to assemble a formidable squad that would represent the country in the East African country.

Garba disclosed that more players would be invited to compete for shirts in the team when the camp opens, adding, however, that “the NFF board has not yet responded on my plans.

“That notwithstanding, we are on track to build a quality team for the Africa championship. As soon as the board responds to our programme, the technical crew will start work. All hands are on deck to ensure the Eaglets come out successful in Tanzania.”

The Golden Eaglets will face the host nation in Group A, as they hope to pick a ticket to the Fifa U17 World Cup from the championship in Tanzania.

Apart from Tanzania, Nigeria will also face Angola and debutants Uganda in the preliminary round of the 2019 Africa U17 Cup of Nations.

The Golden Eaglets, who will be making their ninth appearance in the biennial football fiesta, qualified for the tournament after winning the WAFU-UFOA Zone B U-17 Championship.

In Group B are Guinea, Cameroun, Morocco and Senegal.

The top four teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2019 Fifa U17 World Cup in Peru as the Caf representatives.

Nigeria won the 2013 and 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, but failed to qualify for the 2017 edition of the competition of which they are the highest ranked team.