The final squad list of the cadet national team, Golden Eaglets for this year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup is expected to be announced on Wednesday by the head coach, Manu Garba, who flew out with the squad to Sao Paulo, Brazil last week, megasportsarena.com reports.
Garba’s team will begin her quest for honours at Brazil 2019 against Hungary on October 26, before also facing Ecuador and Australia, ahead of which the gaffer admitted his side need to get into their strides during upcoming build up matches, starting on Monday against Sao Paulo FC.
The UAE 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup-winning coach enthused that he will get a clearer picture of his likely squad from Monday’s build-up game, after which they will also face the cadet squads of South Korea and Japan, all of which Garba says will help out his players into a competitive frame.
With his last phase of preparations officially starting on Monday, Garba affirmed that he will use training sessions before the three build-up matches in Sao Paulo to properly assess his team, check each of the players’ current form and then arrive at his final list, in which will leave out four players from the total of 25 that made the trip.
The five-time champions will face Hungary, Ecuador and Australia in Group B, ahead of which the presence of only three goalkeepers, Joseph Oluwabusola, Daniel Jinadu and Sunday Stephen, in camp reveals that only the shot-stoppers will not have a player dropped from the current roster.
Same will not be the case for other departments, as the 21-man final squad will be known barely 48 hours after their first build-up match in Sao Paulo, as Garba and his assistants will run the rule over their players on Monday before assessing them against Japan two days later.
Having settled down in the city and gradually adapting to the high altitude weather, the Nigerian side will file out against Sao Paulo FC’s U17 team at Saropoca Sports Complex at 7pm Nigeria time, which Garba says will be a good test for the players, to see how they are quickly settling down to the task ahead when the global championship kicks off in a fortnight.
Garba told thenff.com: “The team will play Sao Paulo FC and we want to see how they are adapting to some of the things learnt in the training sessions since we came to Sao Paulo. The friendly game against Sao Paulo FC is one of the friendly games we have lined up for the team. The team will play Japan next in another friendly game before the end of the week.
”I think almost everybody has ample chance to make the 21-man list which will be submitted on the 16th of this month. Having said that, the match against one of the greatest teams in Brazil, Sao Paulo will give an insight of who and who will make the team because even as we are playing the friendly matches, we are assessing each player.
”We want to make sure we take players that are injury free, players that are good enough to give us what we want at the World Cup level. This might not be the only friendly match, I think on the 16th which is the tentative date we are submitting the list, we shall be playing South Korea. This is another chance for other players to showcase what they can do.
”Most importantly before that 16th we should be able to know who and who we have in mind to make the 21-man list. These friendly matches will give an avenue to assess the level of (all the stages of) preparation so far, to see areas we need to address before the World Cup proper.”
