Morakinyo Abodunrin
FOREMOST national youth coach Manu Garba has challenged some of the fledglings that recently came through his hands level to brace up with the challenges of playing for the Super Eagles.
Garba who led Nigeria to U-17 World Cup glory in 2013 in the UAE, said it beggar belief that some of the players that excelled at that cadet level were yet to pull their weights with the senior national team.
“The disappointment I have as a coach is seeing potential players at youth level like Musa Yahaya; Musa Muhammed;Ifeanyi Mathew; Success Isaac; the Nwakali brothers (Chidiebere and Kelechi) and several others not being able to make impact with the Super Eagles for one reason or the other,” the erstwhile captain of El-Kanemi Warriors told NationSport.
“ The other regret is when my team fails to progress in competitive matches because of one or more of the basic factors of performance due to lack of technical, tactical, psychological , physical and mental fitness.”
Garba who was an assistant to late coach Yemi Tella when Nigeria won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2007 in Korea and recently led the class of 2019 to the Round of 16 in Brazil, said it would be difficult to pick just a single player as the all-time best from the milieu.
“To be honest I can’t single out a single player that stands out because so many good players have passed through my hands,” he said.“ There is a player like Chrisantus Macaulay who was the top scorer in the AFCON U-17 tournament in Togo 2007 and the FIFA U17 World Cup in South Korea 2007.
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“ There are other great players like Rabiu Ibrahim, Lukman Haruna, Musa Yahaya, Musa Muhammed, Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Ndidi, Alhassan Ibrahim, Alfa Abdullahi, Ifeanyi Mathew , Alfed Olaniyan (Aguero ) and Akin Amoo.”
Though he admitted it was difficult to single out his greatest achievement as a coach, Garba who also spearheaded the Flying Eagles’ triumph at the 2015 U-20 AFCON in Senegal, said matter-of-factly: “It’s very difficult to single out my greatest achievement but I will still pick the FIFA U17 World Cup UAE 2013-winning team as my greatest moment because we broke the goal scoring record with 25 goals which is yet to be equal in the history of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
“With that team, we also won the Golden Glove, Player of the tournament and fair play trophy and also played total football that entertained the world, “he noted.
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