Amuneke axes five Eaglets

Five players have been dropped from a list of 35 as Nigeria’s Under-17 national team, the Golden Eaglets, intensify their preparation towards their forthcoming African Championship qualifier against Gabon in September.
The Golden Eaglets remarkably dispatched Congo Democratic Republic on a 5-0 aggregate early this month but Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke, said there was no room for complacency in order for the team to achieve its aspiration of qualifying for the 2015 African U-17 Championship to be held in Niger.
“The party is over and it is about time we forget about what we had done recently,” Amuneke told the players. “But it is unfortunate that some have not really measured up to the standard we expected.
“We must now focus our attention squarely on Gabon because it would be their desire to qualify for the Under-17 Championship in Niger.”
The five who were given the marching order, according to the coaching crew, have significantly dropped in form and have contributed little to the fortune of the team in recent time.
On the were Ebije Yahaya, Prince Omosowhofa, Chinedu Madueke, Kingsley Ohiri and Kabiru Muhammed.
The are incidentally all midfielders and have since left the team’s camp in Calabar, Croess River Statr.
“We have reasonably pruned down the list based on the need of the team according to their performance in comparison to others,” explained Emeka Amadi, the team’s Goalkeepers’ trainer, adding that the coaching crew has a pool of players to be called upon when need arises.
“The good thing is that we are in a process of raising a team that can defend the World Cup won in 2013 and we would continue to shuffle the team from time to time since we have about 45 players registered with Confederation of African Football,” noted Amadi.