15th August, 2014
Head Coach of Team 360 Football Club of Surulere, Shola Raji speaks how his goalkeeper, Itua Ossai got an invitation to the Flying Eagles and other issues with Grassroots Soccer Guide
Q:Coach,one of your goalkeepers, Ossai Itua was invited to Flying Eagles,What is your take on this?
I am happy that one of our players was invited to Flying Eagles and he still in the camp right now. It shows that Team 360 FC are club to reckoned with as far as amateur clubs are concerned in Lagos.
Flying Eagles are preparing to take on Lesotho on Saturday in Kaduna in the Africa Youth Championship qualifier,do you expect Itua to make the final list?
Of course yes because Itua is a good goalkeeper that every coach will like him to be part of his team. When Itua was with us,he showed commitment,discipline and always serious in the training. I won’t be surprise if he makes the final list of Flying Eagles at the end of the day.
How did he get invitation to Flying Eagles?
Itua was among the players that invited to the last Golden Eaglet that eventually conquered the World. Some days to the World Cup,he was dropped from camp and came back home so when Flying Eagles started open screening exercise in Abuja, he went and impressed the coaching crew led by Manu Garba and that was how he was invited to Flying Eagles camp.
Team 360 did not go beyond first round at the last Lagos State Challenge Cup,what went wrong?
We crashed out due to inexperience on the part of my players and also we lacked cohesion and determination against our opponents. We actually prepared for the tournament but my players failed to live up to expectation in their first outing. We have learnt our lesson and I believe that we will play better in the next edition.
What is the club doing now now?
Presently we are taking part in the ongoing National Stadium premier league and we are also preparing for Midas Cup scheduled for next month.