16th August, 2014
The technical crew of the Golden Eaglets on Friday dropped five players from the 35-man team presently in camp in Calabar, Cross River.
The players dropped are: Ebije Yahaya, Prince Omosowhofa, Chinedu Madueke, Kingsley Ohiri and Kabiru Muhammed.
The affected players, who are all midfielders, have since left the team’s camp in Calabar.
Morakinjo Abodunrin, the team’s Media Officer, told NAN in Calabar that the players were dropped because of their significant slide in form.
He quoted the coaching crew as saying that the players had contributed little to the fortunes of the team in recent times.
Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, said there was no room for complacency, in order for the team to achieve its aspiration of qualifying for the 2015 African U-17 Championship billed for Niger Republic.
“The party is over and it is about time we forget about what we had done recently,” Amuneke said.
He noted that: “It is unfortunate that some have not really measured up to the standard we expected.
“We must now focus our attention squarely on Gabon because it would be their desire to qualify for the Under-17 Championship in Niger,” he said.
Also speaking on the development, the team’s goalkeeper trainer, Emeka Amadi, said the coaches pruned down the list based on the needs of the team.
“The good thing is that we are in a process of raising a team that can defend the World Cup won in 2013.
“We will continue to shuffle the team from time to time since we have about 45 players registered with the Confederation of African Football,’’ Amadi said
NAN reports that Nigeria’s Under-17 national team is camped in Calabar, in preparation towards their forthcoming African Championship qualifier against Gabon in September.
The Eaglets remarkably dispatched Congo Democratic Republic by a 5-0 aggregate early this month.