Shame Of A Coach: Eaglets Handler Goes To Europe For U-17 Players

Will the Head Coach of the national U-17 side, Manu Garba, tell Nigerians what he is up to? Somebody needs to call the man to order before he embarks on a fruitless voyage that can only spell doom for Nigerian football.

Soccer loving Nigerians will be doing Garba a lot of good if he is told to throw into the trash bin the idea he is nursing about going abroad to scout for players for the U-17 side. The coach has already invited to camp 50 players with the bulk of them drawn from last year’s Copa Coca-Cola U-16 tournament and clubs in the Nigeria Premier League, NPL.

While speaking on Brila FM last week, Garba revealed his plans to tour Europe in a bid to scout for players that fall within the U-17 age bracket for the cadet team, ahead of the 2013 U-17 African Championship.

“I plan to go to Europe to search for Nigerian players who fall within the age bracket. This is because we must give every Nigerian the opportunity of playing for the country,” he said on the radio sports programme.

How can a coach with the numerous young players in the academies spread across the country deem it fit to leave Nigeria for Europe in search of U-17 players? It is left for the football authority to act on this.

Meanwhile, the issue of using over-aged players to prosecute youth tournaments has been subject of intense debate, as the real essence of youth tournaments is to discover players for developmental purpose and not to win at all cost.

The list of Garba’s invited players has already generated a lot of controversy with many Nigerians challenging the authenticity of the dates of birth of some of the players. Many Nigerians argued that it is impossible to have players below 17 years playing in the NPL.

But Coach Garba recently extended an invitation to the top scorer in the Nigerian Premier League, Mustapha Babadidi, of Gombe United to the Golden Eaglets.

The coach justified the invitation of the player, saying that “he is much younger than some players that have played for the Nation’s U-17 team.”

Speaking on the issue, former Green Eagles’ skipper, Chief Segun Odegbami, MON, said that it is left for Nigerians to decide whether they would allow the handlers of their age-grade teams to continue with age cheat at international competitions or not.

The argument of the skilful former IICC Shooting Stars player was based on the fact that it is almost impossible to see a player who is below the age of 17 years playing in the NPL.

Former Super Eagles’ coach and respected FIFA/CAF Technical Instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde, is also worried with the way Nigerian age-grade coaches indulge in age-cheat in nternational tourneys. The two-time coach of the senior national side explained that age-grade competitions should be used as avenues to develop the country’s football.

The Modakeke-born tactician said that countries that are flourishing in football today are those that realise that the benefits of cheating at age-grade competitions are short-lived and therefore should not be encouraged at all in Nigeria.

—Bimbo Ajayi