Ahead of the upcoming 2022 WAFU Zone B U-17 Cup of Nations in Ghana, Golden Eaglets head coach Nduka Ugbade has set his sights on returning the team to winning ways.
Last time, the Nigeria’s cadet side finished fourth at the 13th edition of the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Tanzania in 2019 en route to the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil as the CAF representatives.
The team is being put through their paces ahead of the WAFU tournament, which will serve as a qualifier for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations to held next year in Algeria.
The tournament, which Cape Coast would serve as the hosts, would see Nigeria pitted against Benin, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire in Group B while rivals and hosts Ghana will face Niger and Togo in Group A, which has only three teams.
The tournament would expectedly hold between 11th June 11 and 24th June in Cape Coast, Ghana.
“The one (team) you will get is surely going to be more; they won’t be just Golden Eaglets but they will be Super Eaglets, “Ugbade told Nigeria Info Abuja on the strength of his budding team. “You are going to see everything – strength and speed, intelligence, navigating intelligence most importantly and a lot of creativity.”
Some 40 players have reportedly been picked for a closed camping at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne in Ogun State.
When asked about his views on the current crop of players coming to screen for the positions in the cadet national team, the veteran coach said: “Not too bad, my target is to have a team that is filled with quality players on the level of talent.
“At the end of the day, most probably, I am very confident that we would have a team that would be formidable,” he added.
However, Ugbade, who was an assistant coach when the Eaglets won the U-17 World Cups in 2013, stressed the need for the invited players to work hard if they want to reach the level of their illustrious predecessors.
“We need to work harder, plan well and raise our games to the level of the past U17 sides,” he said. “That is what myself and the technical team are aiming at so that we can bring back that love Nigerians have for their Golden Eaglets.
“We are working very hard to have a formidable team to represent the nation and so the boys are working hard for us to get that glory back.”