Three Eaglets fail MRI test in Morocco

Eaglets players preparing for training

Three players in the national U17 squad Golden Eaglets have failed the mandatory MRI scan tests at the ongoing CAN U17 Cup in Morocco.

The trio of Onyinye Ndidi, Ibrahim Abdullahi and Emmanuel Asadu and six other players: three from Congo and the same number from Cote d’Ivoire failed the test in results made public on Saturday.

The Eaglets which is in Marrakech will now go through the championship with just 18 players at its disposal, the same as Congo and Cote d’Ivoire.

Meanwhile other members of the team have been talking tough ahead of today’s battle with Ghana’s Black Starlets.

Ahmed Umar says the team is ready for a tough time at the tourney.

“I’m happy to be part of this team and I pray that God crown our efforts. We know at the back of our minds that it is not going to be an easy championship particularly with everybody tipping us as the favourites. But we are not getting carried away.”

Kelechi Iheanacho is also sure the team can shine.

“We are going to play for ourselves as a team. Football is a team game and we believe collective efforts will help us. We don’t see ourselves as favourites because we have not won anything. Our style is different and anybody in this team is capable of scoring goals.”

Jide Idowu assures that the team is in the right frame of mind to produce good results.

”We are not been over confident but we know what we are capable of doing. We just pray that God help us achieve our objective here. We have worked hard and we know it is only God that will crown all the efforts with resounding success.”

Ifeanyi Matthew says: “It will be difficult for me to pick one player that is the star of this team. We all see ourselves as stars and we respect each other because each player brings a particular thing to the team.

“So many good players in this team and we have to thank the coaching crew for helping us attain this level.”

On his part, Bernard Bulbwa promises five-star performance.

“Against Ghana on Saturday, it is going to be maximum concentration from me. It is the first game of the championship for us and we have told ourselves that we must put more than 100 percent to achieve victory. We respect Ghana like any other team; we are not going to underrate them.”