Nigeria’s cadet national team, Golden Eaglets’ coach, Manu Garba has made a strong case for an increment in the number of Africa U17 Cup of Nations slots for West Africa zone-B from two to three, because he believes all seven countries in the sub-region are potential global champions.
Sports247 reports that Garba is full of lamentations over his side’s 2-0 loss Ghana in Tuesday’s semi-final of the West African Football Union (WAFU)-B U17 Championship, which ruled them out of the continental level and ultimately means they will not be at the 2025 Cadet Mundial.
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It also means Nigeria will miss both the African championship and U17 World Cup for the second straight time, but Garba reckoned that it would have been an entirely different story had WAFU-B zone been allowed to produce three countries to the continental qualifiers.
The winning coach at UAE 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup and assistant to Yemi Tella when the Eaglets also won the global cadet competition in Korea 2007, furrher recalled how his previous complaint led to WAFU-B getting two slots, instead of only one that they were initially allocated.
Garba recounted: “When we started the WAFU-B zonal qualifiers, I pointed out that we have Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria … seven countries, but only one to qualify.
“I was the one who raised the observation. I said, ‘Tell them in CAF that WAFU-B should have more qualifiers, because it is the strongest zone in Africa.’
“I told them that Africa needs to get a very good representation, and that’s why they added one more country. They now gave us two slots, but I’m still complaining … because we deserve three.”
Sports247 recalls that Ghana, who Nigeria beat in the final of Japan ’93 but they later defeated Brazil to win the 2005 edition, have not qualified for the global championship since India 2017, and Manu believes the limitations facing WAFU-B are a threat to proper representation for Africa.
He further averred, “It’s wrong to have Nigeria and Ghana contesting for only two tickets in the same zone. We are the ones that ensured that Africa is still rated at the top of FIFA’s under-17 level.
“Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have also won medals previously at the World Cup. So, why should CAF give us only two slots in WAFU-B?”
He concluded by pointing out the WAFU-A sub-region appears to be more favoured, despite the fact that only Mali and Guinea have strong FIFA U17 World Cup records among them, hence his verdict that CAF should have a rethink about the number of slots available in WAFU-B zone.
“They gave some consideration to WAFU-A, but I still say, for youth football, WAFU-B is the strongest in Africa. So, we need to get three representatives from this zone. This message should get to CAF. I want the officials of WAFU-B to take this complaint to CAF,” Garba submitted.
