Under-17 national team, Golden Eaglets’ former coach, John Obuh has put forward suggestions on how the Nigerian cadet squad can be revived and then qualify for the next edition of the African championship.
Speaking against the backdrop of the Eaglets’ absence at the ongoing Africa U17 Cup of Nations in Morocco, which means the five-time champions will miss the FIFA U17 World Cup for the second straight edition, Obuh advocated for a better scouting structure and early appointment of a coach for the cadet team.
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Sports247 reports further that John Obuh, who won silver with the Eaglets as hosts of the Cadet Mundial in 2009, then handled the Flying Eagles at the FIFA U20 World Cup two years later in Colombia, also called for long-term planning and added that all hands must be on deck to revive the teenagers’ squad.
Obuh reasoned, “The coaches and every other person must have to do more. Everybody must go in and out, to look for young talented players. We must start now, because under-17 is not something that you can open camp today and go for competition tomorrow.”
The soft-spoken tactician, who is now the chairman of Abia Warriors FC of Umuahia in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), admitted that not being present at this year’s U17 AFCON is another big setback for Nigeria’s youth football sector and pointed out that there is a need for corrective measures to begin immediately.
“By now, we should have been able to know the structure of our next under-17 team, by making sure we have an excellent scouting scheme in place. We should also know that the coach in charge should be announced early.
“He needs to take his time to build the team because, no matter how good a coach is, if he does not start on time to select his players and look at them repeatedly, it may be difficult to get a good squad and for us to blossom again,” Obuh warned.
