Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials believe that the coming WAFU B Under-17 Tournament in Togo is a test-run for the Golden Eaglets ahead of the qualifiers for the 2015 CAN Championship. The Golden Eaglets that has recorded victories in their four previous matches, would round off their tune-up for the tournament in Togo against Pepsi Football Academy at the Agege Stadium in Lagos this afternoon. But that success notwithstanding, it is the conviction of Alhaji Yussuf Fresh, a board member of the NFF that the Golden Eaglets are not yet ‘good-to-go.
“So far, so good because I have been following up on all the activities of the team right from the start of the screening though the momentum is coming up, ” said Yussuf , “we are still expecting some good players to be integrated since this is a national team what I can say is that there is progress,” he noted. While commending the coaching crew for the string of victories so far, Yussuf said matter-of-factly that the tournament in Togo would define the readiness of the team for CAN 2015 qualifiers.
The Golden Eaglets have been drawn bye to the second round and would engage the winner of the first round fixture between Burundi and Congo in July and August. “Sincerely, I don’t think the team is ready yet despite their good performance in friendly matches but the tournament in Togo would show whether they have arrived or not,” he said. Yussuf, who will be leading the Golden Eaglets to the tournament in Togo, said his observation was borne out of the fact that the Golden Eaglets are the defending FIFA Under-17 World Cup champions as such the technical crew must ensure that only the best players are included in their programme.
Source : This Day
