Former Feyernoord of Holland teen prospect Lateef Omidiji Junior was dropped from the Nigeria U17 team for the Africa U17 Cup of Nations because he wasn’t good enough to make the squad according to a backroom staff of the team.
Omidiji didn’t make the 21 man list for the tournament and the Go Ahead Eagles 15 year old forward reacted to his axing by confirming that he won’t be open to representing Nigeria anymore.
He said he will now turn his attention to the youth teams of the Netherlands and USA as he is eligible for both nations citing unfair treatment at the Nigeria U17 camp because according to him he did enough to earn a spot in the team.
However, a backroom staff of the team has come out to say he should be grateful for the chance afforded him to train with the team as he didn’t even merit an invitation in the first place.
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” The plan was to bring players from the U15 to the attack of our team after their exploits at the Africa Youth Games in Algeria. Omidiji only played in one game and how he performed is a topic for another day. However the need to have them train with our team to aid their development was why he and three others were invited “, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” You can ask from those who watched our friendly games, he was so much off the pace, no where near the players who made the list. At a time other players were beginning to question why coach Manu Garba didn’t drop him weeks after he resumed training.
” He should be grateful that he was allowed to train with the team until the final squad was named. From the U15 team where he failed to get games, Divine Nwachukwu who was top scorer for the team made the list. Will it be fair to drop Divine for him? You need to see how well Divine acquitted himself “, he concluded.
Ade Emmanuel