Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets were forced to hold their final training session ahead of their opening match of the ongoing WAFU-B U17 Championship on a termite-infested, five-a-side pitch in Ouagadougou.
The team had been scheduled to train at the USFA football pitch in Ouagadougou. However, on arrival at the venue, the Nigerian contingent discovered that USFA, the facility’s owner, had scheduled a friendly match at the same time the Eaglets were due to begin their training session.
The Nigerian cadet team was subsequently directed to use a nearby five-a-side pitch beside the main facility. Unfortunately, the pitch had a poor playing surface that was unsuitable for a team preparing for a competitive international tournament.
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Efforts by Paul Okwudolor, the team manager of Nigeria’s U17 national team, to reach the organisers of the Championship over the situation were unsuccessful.
The Nigerian youngsters were unhappy about the ugly situation, but the technical crew and the players have resolved to put the incident behind them and focus on Wednesday’s clash with Niger Republic.
Nigeria, five-time world champions in this category, have to negotiate their way past Niger Republic and Cote d’Ivoire in group B, before the knockout rounds of the WAFU-B U17 Championship, which is a qualifying tournament for next year’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations.
