The Coach of Golden Eaglets, Manu Garba and NFF officials have been anxious even as the results of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test which the players underwent some days ago.
The test was in compliance with a FIFA circular sent to all the affiliated federations, through the Confederation of African football (CAF), that all prospective U – 17 players, must undergo and pass the MRI Test before they can feature for their nation in any internationally sanctioned competition.
Just last month, 40 Eaglet players were subjected to the MRI test in Calabar by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), so as to root out age cheats from the team.
According to reports emanating from the Glass House inAbuja, there are fears that most of the players may fail the test as the team officials await the release of the test next week.
Nigeria face its first internal baptism under the watch of Garba, when the Eaglets travel to Miami on September 8, where they will meet Niger Republic in the first leg of the two qualifying matches for a place at the African U – 17 championship.
Garba has never hidden his concerns like anyone else because of the condition by FIFA that all the players must undergo a thorough Grade (1) one MRI test, as against the usual Grade (5) five which was the scope in the past.
While he noted that any player that is over 20 years of age will have limited chances of scaling the test, he nevertheless said he hoped most of his players would be cleared as “there is no guarantee that even a player within stipulated age range will scale through.
