Head coach of the Nigeria U20 football team Ladan Bosso has defended his decision to leave out three youngsters from English teams from his final list of players for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Bosso confirmed that he has already submitted a 30 man list out of which he will pick his final 21 man list for the tournament which starts on the 19th of Februaryand will run till the 11th of March. It will serve as the qualifiers for the U17 World Cup.
The major talking points was the omission of Crystal Palace forward Ademola Ola-Adebomi and Arsenal winger Joel Ideho. The duo came highly recommended but after spending three days in camp, they were left out of the 30 man list.
“Some of these foreign based players that came, of course non of them is bad, all of them are good players but for the lack of African mentality and that’s why my former boys have an edge over them in terms of doggedness and African mentality”, he said after today’s test game against Deluxe Football Club which ended 6-0 in favor of his team.
“And most of the foreign based players that came still have that foreign mentality and we’re preparing for an African tournament. So for now we have to stick with majority of of the home based players with an African mentality that can give us what we’re looking for”, he rounded up saying.