No automatic shirts for victorious Golden Eaglets – Manu Garba

Coach you have been elevated to head the Flying Eagles coaching crew. How happy are you with this development?Elevation or not I am always a very happy man. And I am a firm believer in ‘God’s time is the best’. I have been with the Golden Eaglets since 2005 during the time of Coach Godwin […]

Coach you have been elevated to head the Flying Eagles coaching crew. How happy are you with this development?
Elevation or not I am always a very happy man. And I am a firm believer in ‘God’s time is the best’. I have been with the Golden Eaglets since 2005 during the time of Coach Godwin Izilien when I assisted him to the African Championship in Gambia. I also assisted Late Yemi Tella in 2007 when the Eaglets won their third world title in Korea. And most recently, I led the Golden Eaglets to victory in the UAE.  I believe that having done a good job with the last U-17 team, my employers, in this case the NFF just believe it is worthwhile for me to graduate with the boys for continuity. I thank God for this steady progress in my career.
Now you have embarked on another journey with the National U-20 team. How far, so far?
Well, after our appointment, we found out that majority of the victorious Eaglets have got clubs outside the country and it would be difficult to get all of them by the time we start the qualifiers. That was why we requested for at least two weeks for open screening so that we can look out for some quality players. The plan is that after picking the good ones here, we shall combine them with the other ones who are already on ground to start camping. You know there are some players who prosecuted the qualifiers and the Nations Cup with us but fell along the line due to MRI. All of them would be recalled to come back and fight for jerseys with players who would be picked from this screening exercise.
By your calculation, how many players have you screened so far?
We have seen more than 700 players. As it is now, we have no fewer than 20 good players that I am sure can at least start the camping for us which is very very good. By the time we check their positions with the players on ground, I believe we would be able to get a very strong team that would start the camping proper.
Having won the World Cup with the Golden Eaglets, expectations will definitely be high for you to repeat the same feat with the Flying Eagles. Does this put you under pressure?
Well for me I don’t like to talk about the word pressure because I am a firm believer in destiny. I am always confident in myself that I will always produce a team that will represent this country very well at any given time. This is to say I am not under any form of pressure even if the expectations of Nigerians are high.
After Abuja, are you going to give opportunity for youths in other cities in the country to also fight for places in the team?
The time is very short for us to go round but most players have come from all nooks and corners of this country. Most of the players have come in from Lagos Calabar, Akwa Ibom and other places. However, along the line, if we see good players who are within the age but playing in the professional or Premier League, we can invite them to come for screening so we can build a formidable team.
Although your Eaglets failed to win the Africa Nations Championship in Morocco, the same team went on to win the World title in UAE. Would you losing in Morocco finals was a blessing in disguise?
Well the fact is that even as we lost the Nations Cup finals to Cote d’ Ivoire in Morocco by CAF report we are still the best team of the tournament. We scored a total of 18 goals and conceded only four. Cote d’Ivoire scored only four and conceded about four. And if you go through our qualifying matches for the Nations Cup we scored a total of 21 goals and conceded one. The team was very consistent right from day one. That was why we were able to do very well in the World Cup despite losing a lot of players to MRI.
Are you therefore saying Eaglets victory in UAE did not come to you as a surprise?
There is no way it would have been a surprise to me because we had prepared very well. We had done a lot of things with the boys. They went into the tournament with a lot of information in their head. That was why they did not only score goals but played very well and the whole world was excited about the performance of the team. This is very very good for Nigeria and Africa.
But your team nearly lost the opening group match to Sweden. What went wrong?
The fact is that before we started the World Cup, in all our friendly matches, qualifying matches and the Nations Cup in Morocco, we had never gone down by two goals to nothing. It was against Sweden in the opening match that we went down by two goals. However, we still believed that before the final whistle we would level up and even take the lead because we had never played a match without scoring more than two goals.
Would you say the opening game against Sweden was the toughest match for the team?
It wasn’t the most difficult match because of the way we conceded the goals. Two of the goals were goals we could have avoided. The first goal was given out by the goalkeeper who mistimed the flight of the ball. The second goal was given out by a defender who tried to dribble. If you look at the chances we lost in that match we were suppose to win that match and you can see that when we met them again in the semi-final, it was a different ball game entirely.
To what extent are you monitoring the progress of some of the Eaglets who have got contracts abroad?
We have been communicating. Some of them, I think almost all of them still call me at least thrice a week, if not every day for us to rub minds. Even kelechi Iheanacho was here four days ago because he came to pick some things at home and we met. So we have been communicating.
Would you give automatic shirts to those Eaglets who excelled during the U-17 World Cup?
Well it depends on their level of performance there. It is only when they are doing well that we would invite them to come and beef up the team. There is no automatic shirt for any of them. We have been monitoring their progress. It is only if they are doing well that they can be invited to come and fight for shirts.
Have you picked a training camp for the Flying Eagles?
Left for me, we would have gone back to Cross River but they are preparing all their playing pitches for the National Sports Festival that is why we opted for Akwa Ibom which has the same weather conditions. We also believe that there wouldn’t be distractions there just as it was in Cross River.
Before I let you go, it appears you are enjoying a good working relationship with your assistants?
This is obvious. We are one indivisible family. We are working as a team because as it is said two good heads are better than one. I am a believer in team work. This is a national assignment and we all have a common objective.
How much support are you expecting from the NFF?
The football federation has been most supportive and we expect more of the support now that we have a higher responsibility. It is not only the NFF but also other well meaning Nigerians.