Former coach of the Nigeria U17 team Manu Garba has revealed why nine players from his team of 2013 have been called up to the Super Eagles in the last three years.
The invitation of Francis Odinaka Uzoho and Chidiebere Nwakali means the team the coach put together in 2013 now has nine players in the senior national team of Nigeria, a feat which deserves commendations.
Speaking on the secret of the success of the team, the soft spoken coach told Owngoalnigeria..com in an exclusive chat, that lack of sentiments during the selection of the players is partly the reason.
” I have to commend my assistants, because we were all on the same page during the screening and selection of the players when we were assembling the team in 2013″, Manu told Owngoalnigeria.com only.
” Some players were picked by my assistants Nduka Ugbade, Emeka Amadi and Emmanuel Amunike and what we did was collectively select the best from the lot, and even some players who started with us were later dropped for other players..
” Players like Ovie Ejaria at Liverpool now, would have made the squad were it not for his club issues back then. The likes of Ifeanyi Matthew, Alhassan Ibrahim and Wilfred Ndidi were knocked off by the MRI test after the qualifiers.
” They were integral part of the team during qualifiers but because we had a pool of over 30 players who are almost at the same level, replacing them was easy before they rejoined us two years later at U20 level”.
Osas Mahawi
