Manu Garba’s latest Golden Eaglets must step up to avoid another failure

Five-time world champions Golden Eaglets failed to qualify for last year’s U17 AFCON after they could only finish third at the WAFU B qualifiers in Ghana.

Experienced coach Manu Garba has been handed a second chance to qualify for the continental competition for schoolboys, but his new team will have to raise their game if they were to achieve this.

Going by their final test game before their departure to the qualifiers in Cote d’Ivoire, the Golden Eaglets Class of 2025 will not be physically intimidated at the tournament as they parade big strong boys.

That will come handy in a sub-regional tournament that will not be lacking physicality as the likes of Burkina Faso and Benin, their first round opponents, are known to dish out as much as they get.

Manu Garba’s team are known for their attractive passing game, like the team who won the 2013 U17 World Cup in Abu Dhabi, but this time what they have gained in physicality, they have lost in creativity.

Against Abuja academy side Mop Stars, the Eaglets pushed forward with quick transition, but they did not have the guile to unlock a resolute defence.

They like to attack from the wings as they do not have a proven goal scorer and as such the goals will come from across the team.

Coach Sani Babangida, who followed the team right from their formation, told SCORENigeria: “They are an ordinary team, you can count on your little fingers the special players they parade.

“They were certainly have to do a lot more at the U17 AFCON qualifiers to prove many of us wrong.”