By Akinwale Kasali
The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria has landed in the footballing nation of Brazil to battle 23 other countries for the coveted FIFA Under-17 World Cup Trophy.
Brazil was named emergency host of the Youth World Soccer fiesta following the Ill-preparedness of Peru, which had earlier been named host. Just the same way Cameroon lost the hosting right of the 2019 African Cup of Nations Championship to Egypt due to the unavailability of proposed Stadia for the tournament.
The Manu-Garba led Golden Eaglets team are the most decorated nation in the competition, having won it in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015, becoming the first Nation to win it five times and record back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2015.
Garba is leading the Golden Eaglets team to the Youth Soccer Fiesta for the second time, having led the the Kelechi-Iheanacho inspired team of 2013 at the United Arab Emirates in winning the fourth Under-17 trophy for Nigeria.
Now, he is being saddled with the responsibility of making history and increasing the trophy haul of the nation at Championship.
The Golden Eaglets will clash with Hungary in Goiana on October 26, before taking on Ecuador at the same venue on October 29 and later tackle Australia in Brasilia on November 1 in a Group B encounter.
Garba named a 25-man team that travelled to Brazil, from which he will trim the list to 18 players that will eventually do battle against the rest of the world at the championship.
The list of the players are: Goalkeepers: Sunday Stephen, Joseph Oluwabusola, Daniel Jinadu
Defenders: Charles Etim, Ogaga Oduko, Usman Ibrahim, Clement Ikenna, Shedrack Tanko, Quadri Edun, Oluwatimilehin Adeniyi, Simon Omon
Midfielders: Samson Tijani, Akinkunmi Amoo, Daniel Francis, Ibraheem Jabaar, Ibrahim Sa’id, Monsuru Opeyemi, Fawaz Abdullahi, Idris Eletu-Odibo, Malcolm Ebowei, Peter Agba
Forwards: Olakunle Olusegun, Wisdom Ubani, Divine Nwachukwu, Mayowa Abayomi
