FIFA U-20 World Cup: We selected Nigeria’s best legs –Manu

•As Ezeh dismisses Brazil’s threat

Flying Eagles’ head coach, Manu Garba, has assured Nigerians that the 21players selected for the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand are the best legs that can give the nation the best representation at the tournament.

Garba, who announced the 21-man final list last Friday insisted that the selection process was based purely on merit and devoid of sentiments.


“I have always said it that we would select our players based on merit and not on sentiments,” he told sl10.ng.

“We have been with the boys for some time now and we have selected them based on what we have seen of them.

“If it were possible I would have selected all of them because they’re all very good players but we only have to pick a specified number and we have selected only the best of them at this minute.”

Garba, who guided Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets to win the FIFA U17 World Cup in United Arab Emirates two years ago, defended the inclusion of Kelechi Iheanaco and some other foreign-based players in the World Cup-bound squad despite the fact that they were not in camp in Germany with the rest of the team.

“None of those boys (overseas based) got selected because they play abroad. We understand their clubs couldn’t release them and you can’t blame the boys for that, but we monitored their progress for their clubs and we were satisfied,” he explained.

Meanwhile, FC Porto Under 19 forward Chidera Ezeh is brimming with confidence.

“We respect all our opponents but we don’t fear them,’’ Chidera Ezeh told SL10.ng after training on Thursday morning.

“In these modern days all the teams are good and what we saw here (in Germany) is not different from others and surely we will gain a lot of experience playing them.

“We will take each game as it comes.’’

In the build-up to the mouth-watering clash against Brazil in New Plymouth, the Flying Eagles were involved in three scrimmages and won all the games, scoring 14 goals.