WAFU B U-17: 10-Man Golden Eaglets Beat Niger Republic 1-0

Wow what a nervy game. Hope the NFF can see what their lackluster attitude is doing to this team. We were so lucky to come out of this game with that score line. My prayer is they bag the ticket and Manu can overhaul this team. Many of them were playing tired. Honestly they need new attackers. Only cletus and the 2 central defenders are worthy of mentioning. Hope they can beat Togo on Wednesday. Hmmmmmm minnow countries are now catching up to Nigeria.

This team did not prepare well. We always think we can deal with any youth team. We had 2 years to prepare but we left it till the last few weeks. At the end, everyone will blame the coach. It is not enough to pick talented players. They must be nurtured into a team.
The NFF should please wake up.

We continue to have uncoordinated, inefficient, lazy and corrupt politician as NFF president who has no direction. Based on these qualities mentioned we cannot have a team that is better than what we are seeing in Ghana. The worse part is that they refuse to change. All the teams in the tournament have been preparing for more than six months. Nigeria started less then a month. This the best the team can rendered under this present circumstances. NFF completely
take the blame. The institution is clueless period. God help Nigeria.

Hopefully we muster a win vs Togo and hope Bfaso and Niger battle each other to a draw.

We can’t afford to meet this Ghana team that even went as far as camping in Europe yet…..!

We can keep fooling ourselves about some useless pedigree at U17 level (albeit marked by 30 year olds masqurading as U17s) when others a leveraging on the power of early preparations.

The arrogance of thinking we can just wake up someday, send 11 players wearing green jerseys onto the pitch and watch them run over other teams will be our doom someday soon.

This team is barely 2 weeks old, thanks to the useless federation we call the NFF.

I doff my hat for Manu…..that man is indeed a magician. I deeply appreciate the fact that he has manged to put together in 2 weeks a MRI grade 4 compliant team that only needs a draw in the next game to qualify for the semifinals.

I just pray they can do the unthinkable and top the group to brighten our chances of reaching the AFCON.

Sometimes I always just wish justice prevails and NFF’s haphazard nature of preparing teams blows up in their face with collosal failure…..but on the other hand, I always think of the careers of the players and hope we eke out success anyways.

But we can only make our own luck….God isn’t an unjust God.

Even if the NFF selects a 30 man team of Grade 6 players, is 2 weeks of preparation time for a competition of this magnitude ideal for a newly assembled team…..? Is it the MRI grade of this team that is hampering their fluidity and cohesion or their poor preparation duration…?

“There are different stages of grading the growth plate, from 1 to 6. Grade 6 is the last stage where the growth plate is completely fused. For the purpose of Under-17 tournaments, everyone who is a Grade 6 is therefore deemed ineligible to participate in this age group category” – Confederation of African Football (CAF) Medical Officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya

“To this end, every player scouted is mandated to have an MRI scan at designated hospitals approved by the NFF. After that has been done and the player has passed Grades 1–4, he can be allowed to join up with the rest of the team. Even NFF is not accepting Grade 5 because (a grade 5 can become grade 6 in a matter of weeks) and the player will exceed the required age before the tournament,” he added” – Francis Achi, Media Officer

According to a BBC report, Article 27.4 of Caf’s U17 Nations Cup regulations states: “If after performing the age eligibility test (MRI) for a participating team and one player was found non-eligible, the participating team will be disqualified.”

Gusau consistently being shrewd with appointments to save money for his board of “choppers” to the detriment of Nigeria’s football.

Appoint 2 weeks to tournament, save 2 months of salaries and allowances. “Smartness” in reverse.

Late contract renewal for Waldrum. Late appointment for Finidi. Last minute announcement for the assistants. Same with U20 and now U17.

FIFA is trying their best to even the odds for less fancied nations to run shoulders with the heavyweight of football in the under 17 level.

From next year’s edition 2025 (not this one that will happen in November) where NFF is conspiring to make it a no-show with their unwise decisions, 10 African teams will represent the continent at the under 17 world cup and not the 4 currently.

What that means is that less fancied but serious African nations will begin to build killer squads that will definitely put NIGERIA UNDER THE BUS because the current eggheads in glasshouse would ruin our football in such a way that we will soon be minnows.

Add that to the fact that under 17 world cup will now be played EVERY YEAR till at least 2029.

Soon, Nigeria will be out of line in terms of football development because future national teams will start springing up everywhere in Africa at all levels: under 17, under 20, olympic team and the national team FOR BOTH BOYS AND GIRLS.

Let no one be surprised when we start struggling to beat Malawi at youth level in 2026.

After all, our senior national teams can always poach players from other countries unlike in youth football.

For a team that had pitiful time to prepare for a tournament, Manu Garba’s boys did so well against a stubborn Niger team to record a hard-fought heart-warming win, giving them a realist hope of reaching the semi final.

Niger went all out to either win or at least gather a draw last night but the Golden Eaglets stayed resolute.

You cannot but be proud of the boys and hope they scale though the final group stage hurdle against Togo on Wednesday – a banana skin tie.

I sort of enjoyed the match against Niger even though Nigeria’s defense were asleep on their wheel earlier which almost gifted Niger a goal through miscommunication and lethargy that led to the ball eventually being gathered by our goalkeeper.

Seeing the team orchestrate a complex web of passing routines from the back to eventually culminate in goal scoring efforts severally was commendable. But end product in the way of effective crosses into the 18 yard box wasn’t always forthcoming.

Midfield maestro Simon Karshe Cletus continues to be the glue that holds the midfield together with calmness in his play beyond his years. His passes always held a key to unlock the opposition defense with a gallimaufry of gorgeous low and high passes. He rightly earned his second man of the match award.

The defense often collaborated well to douse the attacking flames of Niger with some aggressive interventions, crunching tackles and decent recoveries. But I think they need to curb their enthusiasm so as not to give away needless free kicks and penalties in future. The shape at the back at times also seemed wonky as they failed to move in sync which can lead to a defender carelessly leaving an opposition attacker on side and in acres of space to do damage in future games.

The runs of Edward Oloche Ochigbo down the flanks caught the eye and kept me hooked; that guy is quick! Even though the full back had a healthy head-start, Ochigho would catch up, overtake the defender, latch on to the pass to deliver his crosses but the end product itself was lacking – still, his speed, pace, hunger and a keen sense of positioning are assets. In fact, he located himself in the right place at the right time to head Nigeria to victory following the corner kick routine.

Goalkeeper Chinedu Levi Dominic was amazing with his picture-perfect dive to punch away a perfect free kick, keeping Nigeria in the game. He was like a hawk, looking to claw away all efforts directed his way with good anticipation and well executed goalkeeping manuovres.

The Golden Eaglets attempted a number of long range shots and their desire to press the issue in midfield allowed them to press home their tactical advantage. There overall application across the park was compelling in their determination not to give any grounds. And if all else failed, the defense was on hand to mop up leading to Okorie Marvelous Chibuike bearing down at the opposition to halt their advance and incur maximum red card punishment. Even that Marvelous guy is quick as he covered a lot of grounds to catch up with the Nigerien defender before his interception was deemed worthy of the guillotine by the referee.

All in all, I am so proud of the players. They delivered a performance that was exciting, compelling and engrossing. When you consider they had to play like 30 minutes 1 man down against a feisty and fierce opposition, it makes their accomplishment all the more laudable.

Owing to how poorly they were prepared and how hastily they were assembled, these boys want to stand up and give them a round of applause and thus far they have put in the shift to earn it.

May they continue to improve as the tournament progresses.

@ Dr. Drey, @Jimm, @Christian Ministry of Nigeria,@kel and other members Everybody is crying for a change yet the NFF refuse to change. The same is happening with U20 team with the tournament taking place later in the year and other teams for WAFU B qualifiers like Ghana, Liberia, Togo to mention a few have all started preparations. In our case the Coach is yet to know his faith after the disappointing event of the 2024 All African Games in Ghana. I can tell the forum that the lazy, incompetent NFF will not act until one month to the tournament. This is kind of NFF, we are having now under Gussau and I can guarantee that we will not see good days under this present dispensation unless there is a drastic change of attitude, in decision making and implementation. God help Nigeria.

This information was collected at this site to buttress my argument earlier. the site is “https://www.afrik-foot.com/cote-divoire-algerie-u20-amical-mai-2024” and the story is as foloows In anticipation of the CAN U20 2025 qualifiers, Côte d’Ivoire and Algeria will face each other in a double confrontation on May 23 and 27 at the Bingerville Sports Complex in Abidjan, the Ivorian Football Federation announced on its official Facebook page. football (FIF).

The CAN U20 qualifiers in Zone B of the Union of West African Federations in Zone B (UFOA-B) in which Côte d’Ivoire will participate will take place from October 17 to 31. The qualifying tournament in the North African Football Union (UNAF), of which Algeria is an integral part, will also take place in October. Yacine Manaa’s foals beat MC Alger (5-3) this Sunday in a friendly match.