The disappointment f losing important players after the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test introduced to curb the menace of age cheats has been played down by coach of the U17 team of Nigeria Manu Garba.
Garba lost two players to the scan 48 hours to the start of the WAFU B U17 Championship in Niger Republic, same fate he suffered in 2016 where he lost almost his entire starting lineup after the scan before their qualifiers against Niger Republic.
This time around the coach is optimistic that he won’t suffer same disappointed after leading a total of 60 players for the test ahead of the start of the Africa U17 Cup of Nations.
” I don’t expect any surprise after the scan. We’ve retained the bulk of the players we used at the WAFU Championship and the few players we added to the team have no such problem. Disappointment can’t be ruled out but I don’t see it happening “, Garba told Owngoalnigeria.com.
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The coach also explained that the idea behind having 60 players undergo the test is to give the team enough option to choose from incase any of the players fail to pass the test.
” It’s not safe to have just 30 or 40 players do the test. From the number we have, we can replace anyone who fail the test with ease”.
Ade Emmanuel