Alhaji Aminu Maigari, President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said he was happy with the constitution of the Golden Eaglets at the ongoing 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the UAE. Speaking against the backdrop of accusations that some players at this championship are off the age limit, Maigari said he was happy that due process was followed in the selection of the Golden Eaglets."It's unfortunate but some players at this competition are not Under-17s,"lamented UAE coach, Rashed Albedwawi after watching his young guns collapsed under the fireworks of Brazil, Honduras and
Slovakia in Group A.
Nigeria came into this tournament with a collection of players yet to taste the demands of professional football as compared with some teams from Europe and South America.
"I’m happy with the squad we brought to this competition because we ensured that the right thing was done in selection of players," maintained Maigari. “We discouraged the coaches from using established
players from the league irrespective of their ages.”
Apart from disallowing the use of players from the Premier League teams, the NFF followed the stipulated Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Test to the letter -the exercise consumed key players from the
CAN U-17 Silver-winning team. Maigari who visited Golden Eaglets' Intercontinental Hotel abode in
company of Hon. Patrick Ugbe, Cross River Commissioner for Sport and Mr. Mitchel Obi, broadcaster and President of AIPS Africa before their 5-0 spanking of Iraq on Friday, enjoined the players to strive to win
the championship to justify the huge expectations of Nigerians and win the trophy.
Similarly, Ugbe and Obi reminded the players that they are on the threshold of history if they can emulate their illustrious predecessors that were crowned champions in 1985, 1993 and 2007. “Nothing should stop you and you should know that we (Nigeria) know how to reward excellence and you would become ‘prisoner’ of success if
you can go all the way to win the trophy,” said Obi.
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