Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Nigeria U-17 players fail age tests ahead of the World Cup
FIFA’s under-17 World Cup coming up
in October is already drawing up some controversies, well, mainly for the Nigerian team. Some key players in the team recently failed FIFA's age tests. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) which was used to scan the
wrist of some of the Nigerian U-17 team in order to find their true age showed
some of the players to be over the age limit. Only players between the grade 1
and 5 of the scan are eligible to participate in the tournament.
Coach of the Nigerian team, Manu
Garba is quite hopeful that he will find qualified players to make up for the
loss despite the fact that the competition is right around the corner, he also
insisted that results from the age test did not come as a shock as some of the
players actually become older since the last test.
“We are working in conjunction with
the NFF to ensure that only eligible players will represent the country at the
World Cup”
He also stated-"We are not
oblivious of the challenges posed by the MRI since we started this campaign
because the players are growing," -said Garba.
"But imagine a scenario
whereby a player who was on Grade 4 in April has grown to grade 6 in July but
what can we do than to call on other players from our reservoir.
"We are working in conjunction
with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to esnure that only eligible players
will represent the country at the World Cup and we are on the right course.
FIFA introduced MRI scans to check
the ages of players at the 2009 Under-17 World Cup, which took place in
Nigeria.
Former African footballer of the
year and Nigeria under-17 assistant coach Emmanuel Amuneke was quick to dismiss
age-cheat allegations and remains optimistic about the prospect of the team
despite obvious challenges.
"We know that this journey was
going to be full of challenges when we started," Amuneke explained.
"But we have been transparent
enough as regards the twin issue of player selection and the MRI test and it is
important for the public to be well educated on this matter.
"The truth is that these
players have not remained the same since we picked them almost two years ago
because they have been training and eating well and their growth is expected,
but we shall overcome the setback."
The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria finished as
runners-up at the 2013 African Under-17 Championship in Morocco, underwent MRI
scans in Abuja to help determine their ages ahead of the upcoming World Cup in
the United Arab Emirates.
Nigeria has won the FIFA Under-17
World Cup three times - 1985, 1993 and 2007.
The official draw for the
tournament is coming up in August 26, and will take place in UAE.
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