The Golden Eaglets of Nigeria are set to participate in an invitational tournament in Turkey as part of its preparations for the 2019 Africa U17 Cup of Nations scheduled for Tanzania between April 14 to 28.
The U17 squad swept all before them at the WAFU U17 Tournament in the Niger Republic in September 2018 to pick up the trophy and also qualify as West Zone B’s flagbearers in the continental finals in Tanzania, following an adjustment to the format of the qualifiers.
Coach Manu Garba, a former Nigeria international who also led the team to global triumph in the UAE six years ago, has assured that his boys have imbibed the mentality of champions without the overconfidence that sometimes come to the fore prior to tournaments.
The invitational tournament in Turkey will hold from March 1 to 10 and will see a number of the teams who have qualified for the Africa U17 Cup of Nations taking part, alongside a number of European teams.
The five-time world champions play in Group A at the Africa U17 Cup of Nations alongside hosts Tanzania, Angola and Uganda.
All the participating teams (except the host nation) won the championships of their respective regions to qualify. Only West Zone A, to which 2017 champions Mali belongs, produced two finalists.
“We will prepare very well to conquer from our group in Tanzania, in order to qualify for the FIFA U17 World Cup finals coming up in Peru,” Manu told
Group B has Guinea, Cameroon, Morocco and Senegal, with all four semi-finalists guaranteed places at the FIFA World Cup finals.
