Two years ago, a crop of young players travelled to the United Arabs Emirates and after three weeks of hostilities, the U-17 team under coach Manu Garba, emerged the best team at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Nigeria defeated Mexico 3-0 in the final. Kelechi Iheanacho was particularly outstanding and it was not a surprise he emerged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Other prominent players in the team were Isaac Success, Taiwo Awoniyi, Musa Yahaya, Chidebere Nwakali and Musa Muhammed. Last weekend, about 70 per cent of those players who graduated from the U-17 won the Africa U-20 Championship. Manu and his assistant, Nduka Ugbade made it happen even without Iheanacho, Success and Yahaya.
The players showed great promise during the Super Four pre-season competition organised by the League Management Committee. The four best teams in the Nigerian league were at the competition and the Flying Eagles won all games except the one against national U-23 team that ended 3-3. With 13 points, Manu’s boys were the best, followed by the U-23 team that recorded nine points.
It is a good thing for a national team to record such a feat after the disappointment of the Super Eagles last year when Nigeria failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea. Nigerians were very happy because the players showed so much promise before the competition and went to the tournament to win as expected.
The victorious team defeated the hosts, Senegal, in the opening and final matches of the competition. Nigeria won 3-1 in the first encounter and repeated the feat with a 1-0 margin which saw Benard Bulbua hitting the target with a long range effort that turned out to be the only goal of the match. Bulbua’s goal was voted the best in the competition while skipper Muhammed emerged the highest scorer.
We believe the victory of the Flying Eagles is a strong statement for continuity. Over the years, football authorities have been unable to succeed in assembling a good crop of players from one age grade to the other. In most cases, only a handful graduate to the next age grade. This time, Nigeria is reaping the fruits of continuity.
The team will compete at the FIFA U-20 World Cup against Brazil, Hungary and Korea in the group stage and Nigerians are confident that the African champions will make progress from the preliminaries of the global event and even fight to win the trophy for country for the first time. This, we believe, is not going to be easy without a very good preparation. At the global stage, there will be stiff competition among the finalists and so staging quality friendly games for this team is paramount.
During the week, assistant coach, Ugbade, stressed that there would be no automatic shirts for other top players who were not in Senegal. He also acknowledged that the technical crew would still work on the team. It is commendable that the coaches are looking forward to make the team better. President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, also assured that the football body would provide the enabling environment for a proper transition of the current U-20 team. We however make bold to say the Flying Eagles are good enough to form the nucleus of the new look Super Eagles.
Football of today belongs to the youth and we should graduate the U-21 team to the Super Eagles. Many top footballers started their careers at the top as teenagers. Diego Maradona, Pele, Wayne Rooney, Micheal Owen, made impact at the world stage from their teenage years. Back home Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Ikpeba made the Super Eagles team as teenagers. But for Keshi’s intransigence Iheanacho would have been a member of the current Eagles. If the U-20 team starts now as the senior team, the players will develop together into a formidable side.
The team will only require a few experienced hands as additions. During the week, four members of the Africa U-20 champions including Awoniyi were drafted to the U-23 team preparing for the crunch return leg encounter against Zambia in the All Africa Games qualifiers. It also goes to show that these boys are the ‘beautiful ones,’ the future of Nigerian football.
The players are good enough to graduate together with their coaches to the senior team We believe this is a risk worth taking for the rebuilding process to be really meaningful in the Super Eagles. Their interchange of passes, cohesion and general understanding of the U-20 players are always delightful to watch. The lacklustre display of the Eagles in the friendly against Uganda on Wednesday where the team lost 0-1 is enough for the NFF to shift focus to the U-20 boys.
