Five-time world champions Nigeria and three-time world champions Ghana headline the seven-team West African Football Union (WAFU B) U17 Tournament taking place in Lome, Togo from 5th – 20th January 2021.
Nigeria’s U17 Boys, Golden Eaglets who flew into Lome on Sunday morning from Lagos, came with a squad of 25 players who are expected to pick the ticket from the WAFU tournament to represent the region in this year’s CAF U17 Cup of Nations taking place in Morocco.
Pedigree, pride and career aspiration aside, the Eaglets are sure to derive some kind of vicarious motivation from the below-par outing of the Nigeria U20 Boys at the WAFU B U20 Tournament in Benin Republic last month.
Nigeria conquered the world in 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015, and
alongside Ghana have dominated cadet football on the African continent, with Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal to be reckoned with as well on the basis of investment and focus on youth development.
The Eaglets’ first encounter in Lome will be against the Ivorians, at the Stade Municipal on
Wednesday from 4pm, and should serve as a pointer to how much the Eaglets are keen to conquer Africa again.
On Saturday at the same
venue, they clash with Ghana’s Black Starlets in a potentially explosive encounter between two teams with eight world titles between them.
