Flying Eagles head coach Paul Aigbogun has stressed that they are looking at training the invited players to knock them into shape before embarking on some friendly matches ahead of their trip to Niger Republic for the CAF U17 Africa Cup of Nations starting from February 2 to 17....
Aigbogun noted that with the fact that they already have a crowded programme, it will be difficult for them to embark on a training tour as they have about 30 players to work with before trimming them down to the required number for the championship in Niger Republic.
He said he would have loved to have as many Nigerian players as possible that are eligible to play in his squad but that some foreign-based players they pencilled down are having the challenge of not getting the nod of their teams to come for it since the competition is not captured in the FIFA free window.
“We don’t have that much time to prepare for the competition again and to say that we are going on a training tour may not be to our advantage,” Aigbogun said.
“We are expecting 30 players in camp on Monday (today) in Abuja and the preparation will be very intense to ensure we get the best players for the competition. We are going to play some friendly games after we have been able to train for some days to bring the players back into
shape.
“We are optimistic of our chances and are going to Niger Republic with high hope that we can compete and can grab one of the tickets to the World Cup. We want to train very well here and then proceed to Niger from here.”
shape.
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