Nigeria’s cadet national team, Golden Eaglets are facing a mammoth does of distraction heading into preparations for the 2021 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations in Morocco, as one of the players and two team officials are held back in Lome, Togo on account of coronavirus quarantines.
TMegasportsarena.com gathered that the player and both officials were quarantined just before the start of action in the West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone-B championship, in which Nigeria booked a ticket to Morocco 2021 by finishing second behind their nemesis opponent, Cote d’Ivoire.
The Ivorians defeated their Nigerian counterparts 1-0 in their opening group match, but helped them beat Ghana 3-1 for the Eaglets to book a place in the semi-finals and eventually set up a match in the final, only for Coach Fatai Amoo’s boys to lose 3-2.
Nonetheless, by virtue of their ticket to the final in Lome, the Eaglets had already qualified for the U17 AFCON, which has now been shifted from July to March, but Amoo and his squad have been hit with disturbing news about their colleague and officials who were down with COVID-19.
Against all expectations that the threesome would be back in Nigeria with the team after the final, not only did they fail to meet up with the Eaglets’ return home, a startling report by SCORENigeria indicates that the trio has been further held back in the Togolese capital.
The report by SCORENigeria disclosed: “Two officials and a player (name withheld) are still in quarantine in Lome, Togo, after they tested positive for Coronavirus.
“We first reported that three players and three officials contacted the disease during the recent U17 AFCON qualifiers WAFU B edition in Togo.
“It has now been revealed that two officials and a player have yet to test negative twice that will allow them to return to Nigeria. The other affected players and official are safely back home after they tested negative.”
