Youth national team, Flying Eagles coach, Paul Osahon Aigbogun has finally opened up on the chain of issues that stopped him from going to the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations with his top scorer, Wasiu Alalade.
The absence of Alalade from Aigbogun’s final squad list to Niger Republic 2019 left many football observes aghast, considering his top form and number of goals with the team, but the coach, whose side failed to finish in the top-three bracket, says it was due to administrative issues.
Incidentally, Alalade had also been in top form playing under Aigbogun during his days at Enyimba of Aba, such that his absence in the team left many eyebrows raised, with insinuations rising that they must have been a falling out between coach and player.
However, while Aigbogun, a UK-born coach, who worked in Britian, USA and South Africa, before turning home to handle Warri Wolves of Detla State, disclosed that Alalalde’s absence was unexpected, he did not give details of the administrative issues that ruled th elad out.
He also preferred to give plaudits to Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for supporting his efforts, but further noted that the absence of another attacker, Victor Boniface, due to injury, also limited his options.
Aigbogun stated: “We got all the support needed from the NFF to excel at this level but we lost two key attackers.
“Wasiu Alalade to administrative issues and Victor Boniface to injury on the eve of the competition.
“These are important members of the team. Alalade was our highest goal scorer in the qualifiers while Boniface was key to our early success.
“Unfortunately, we had to travel without these two (key players) and it really affected the team.”
