Nigeria’s U17 national team coach, Nduka Ugbade has disclosed that the Golden Eaglets will soon open their training camp ahead of the CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria. The captain of the cadet U-16 Golden Eaglets that won the inaugural edition of the youth tournament hosted by China in 1985 spoke in an interview, on the challenges facing the team.
“The U-20 team started their training camp because theirs (CAF U-20 AFCON) is coming first. Ours (U-17) is in April,” Ugbade said with an air of understanding. “We are starting camping soon. The only problem is that when there are no funds, things slow down but in a week or two (weeks), things will fall in place,” Ugbade added.
The Eaglets who are hoping to qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup are five-time champions of the world. The semifinalists in the Africa Cup of Nations for the U17s will represent Africa at the tournament. Four nations will also qualify for the U-20 World Cup.
Nigeria’s U-17 and U-20 sides won the West African Football Union (WAFU) tournaments to reach the continental tournaments.
