U17 team crisis- Manu Garba having problems

[txj]

The MRI test is not 100 percent correct all the time. There are false positives.

The blame is the NFF. Appointing a coach 1 month before an event. Waiting untill the last minute to do MRI tests. Normally the MRI tests are done much earlier to get eligible players for campaign. It takes time to teach youngsters how to play footall. Ideally they should have been in the U15 program before graduating to the U17 team. Whatever happened to the U15 program?

The margin of error on MRI should not be that high where more than half of those tested fail. I doubt we have such high failures with other countries.

The same thing happened in the past. That is not a new issue and you are focusing on the wrong thing. Why did they wait until the last minute to do the tests? Why did they wait until 1 month before the tournament to appoint a coach?

When the rest of the country keeps asking these sorts of questions, then our institutions will improve. They will start churning out quality admins, players and individuals such as quality local coaches. Simply yearning for a local at the helm all the time (regardless of who it is) never addresses the root cause of why we go foreign in the 1st place.

The hiring of a foreign coach is systom of bad leadership. Nigerians are intelligent people. What Nigeria need is stop taking the easy way out by hiring foreilgn coach s and ignoring the local league. The reality is the Wowo and Japa model has not worked. Only local solutions will fix Nigeria. Improve local institutions.

You like to yarn opaks. See how you shifted the goal post. They are telling you that the number of players that failed the MRI is high and you switched to WOWO. Stop the oxymoron to suit your narrative. If the easy way out (Japan model) is not the smart way of doing things, how can you say Nigerians are smart. Try using “some” or “most” when speaking about Nigerians in general.

Packerland,

But the point made by Ohenhen is not out of place. The high rate of failure is not surprising. It occurs regularly not just with Nigeria but a lot of African teams. What I believe Ohenhen is noting is: since such rate frequently occurs, the NFF should have started this process months ago to assist in bringing in other youngsters as replacements. This was done in the past but funding issues, as it pertains to camping, may have led to this late action and it will end up hurting the chances of Nigeria.

The high rate of failure that you find in Nigeria is due to unreliable official documentation coupled with the desperation by youngsters to make a living playing football. That combination leads to this high rate of cheating.

Let me also note that these tests, when used initially with footballers at this level from all over the world, led to several footballers failing the tests in places like the USA and UK. However, in those places the official age documentations are reliable. I had discussed this deeply years ago. The reliability of official documents in those areas mean that such tests are no longer required in those countries but continue to be used in Africa and Asia.

Years ago, I discussed this deeply at the blogspot cite --- eaglesetcera. There I also noted the various range of the fusing and why the likes of Wilfred Ndidi failed the rest during that period.

https://eaglecity.blogspot.com/2015/11/ ... k.html?m=1

The highlighted is wrong. Very wrong.
Perhaps in the 70s it was right;

maybe even in the 80s and 90s...which is a stretch...

But not in the 2000s. The records are there.

The problem is an ingrained cheating mentality on the part of the NFF, the coaches and of course the players.

There are many private companies in Nigeria that perform professional credentialing jobs. All the NFF has to do is hire one for the youth teams...

[ohenhen1]

Like I said this is a symptom of bad leadership. Just look at how Tinubu flys to Paris for medical treatment. Instead of investing the capacity in Nigeria. Our so called leaders would rather Japa to Paris for medical treatment.

This saga is also due to bad poor leadership. The corrupt leaders instead of working would rather focus on looting public funds. They will go for a foreign coach. They will ignore the local league.

They would rather import fuel than fix the local refineries. Nigeria needs an attitude adjustment or else nothing will change. In fact it will get worse.

[Igugu]

Is this about the NFF or the endemic corruption of Nigerians?
More than half the team failed the MRI.

These are 15, 16 yr old kids already misrepresenting themselves.

You’ve said it all.

Some of those kids would have presented forged school documents.

I know a guy who is well above 30 but his passport says he is 26. He is now trying to lower his birth date again, first by changing the birth date on his NIN and then changing it on a new passport. That’s the advice given to him by an agent who wants to take him to Azerbaijan.

But all these have adverse effects later on in life. I have been in this country (USA) for many years now to know that those who lower their dates of births, had been unable to retire when they are supposed to, to start collecting Social Security (as required by law in the US), or Pensions from their employers. Though they may be aching as hell because of their true age telling on them, they cannot access the benefits. Some do die even without help from anywhere, because of their lies of the past as contained in their Passports.

[niyi]

Every year, there’s a new article about how 50% of the incoming eaglets have failed this MRI test. You would expect the failure rate to trend down every year as more and more potential players planning to cheat realize there is a high chance of being caught and the coaches make them aware of this. I am assuming most of the stakeholders know there is a high probability of being caught for a few reasons but the primary reasons is this: the same coaches and groupsof coaches (Manu, Ugbade, Amunike) have been involved in some form since 2013 and they are aware of the consequences of failing this test- the main consequence is that highlighted by Ohenhen which is the possibility of losing key players and starting all over again with the scouting process at the 11th hour.

So assuming there’s enough awareness and deterrence, I wonder why age cheats keep trying to beat such a test or what else could be happening.

The test is either so unreliable, with a high rate of false negatives, that people (footballers, agents, academy administrators) are aware of this and will keep playing the numbers game to simply see if their overage players will slip through the cracks or the system has such a high rate of false positives that leads to failures even when genuine U17s take the test.

I don’t know enough about the test to say whether it is a high rate of false positives or false negatives but the test is unreliable from available scientific evidence, from the non-diminishing rate of failure every year, and anecdotally I remember the case of USA-born Obinwa who failed this test in 2013. We certainly should not be using this solely to determine who gets to represent the country. It seems like the test does not account sufficiently for variations in bone development due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors.

Until the test is refined to be more reliable, I believe it should only be used as a second checkpoint (B) and we need to implement an appeal process (checkpoint C) for those who fail the test ASAP. Checkpoint A should remain a valid birth certificate.

CAF and the NFF should push for the adoption of such a process because African football development at this point sadly depends on these international football tournaments.

[Enugu II]

Every year, there’s a new article about how 50% of the incoming eaglets have failed this MRI test. You would expect the failure rate to trend down every year as more and more potential players planning to cheat realize there is a high chance of being caught and the coaches make them aware of this. I am assuming most of the stakeholders know there is a high probability of being caught for a few reasons but the primary reasons is this: the same coaches and groupsof coaches (Manu, Ugbade, Amunike) have been involved in some form since 2013 and they are aware of the consequences of failing this test- the main consequence is that highlighted by Ohenhen which is the possibility of losing key players and starting all over again with the scouting process at the 11th hour.

So assuming there’s enough awareness and deterrence, I wonder why age cheats keep trying to beat such a test or what else could be happening.

The test is either so unreliable, with a high rate of false negatives, that people (footballers, agents, academy administrators) are aware of this and will keep playing the numbers game to simply see if their overage players will slip through the cracks or the system has such a high rate of false positives that leads to failures even when genuine U17s take the test.

I don’t know enough about the test to say whether it is a high rate of false positives or false negatives but the test is unreliable from available scientific evidence, from the non-diminishing rate of failure every year, and anecdotally I remember the case of USA-born Obinwa who failed this test in 2013. We certainly should not be using this solely to determine who gets to represent the country. It seems like the test does not account sufficiently for variations in bone development due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors.

Until the test is refined to be more reliable, I believe it should only be used as a second checkpoint (B) and we need to implement an appeal process (checkpoint C) for those who fail the test ASAP. Checkpoint A should remain a valid birth certificate.

CAF and the NFF should push for the adoption of such a process because African football development at this point sadly depends on these international football tournaments.

Niyi

There are several false negatives. As I noted earlier, the first use if this rest applied to youth players from all over the world including the USA. In that case there were multiple false negatives among American players who were clearly within the age.

However, because birth records in the Wedt and USA are credible, MRI is not used for players from those areas. Not so in Nigeria, rest of Africa and Asia.

Thus, several players failing the test in Nigeria may actually be within the correct age.

[niyi]

Every year, there’s a new article about how 50% of the incoming eaglets have failed this MRI test. You would expect the failure rate to trend down every year as more and more potential players planning to cheat realize there is a high chance of being caught and the coaches make them aware of this. I am assuming most of the stakeholders know there is a high probability of being caught for a few reasons but the primary reasons is this: the same coaches and groupsof coaches (Manu, Ugbade, Amunike) have been involved in some form since 2013 and they are aware of the consequences of failing this test- the main consequence is that highlighted by Ohenhen which is the possibility of losing key players and starting all over again with the scouting process at the 11th hour.

So assuming there’s enough awareness and deterrence, I wonder why age cheats keep trying to beat such a test or what else could be happening.

The test is either so unreliable, with a high rate of false negatives, that people (footballers, agents, academy administrators) are aware of this and will keep playing the numbers game to simply see if their overage players will slip through the cracks or the system has such a high rate of false positives that leads to failures even when genuine U17s take the test.

I don’t know enough about the test to say whether it is a high rate of false positives or false negatives but the test is unreliable from available scientific evidence, from the non-diminishing rate of failure every year, and anecdotally I remember the case of USA-born Obinwa who failed this test in 2013. We certainly should not be using this solely to determine who gets to represent the country. It seems like the test does not account sufficiently for variations in bone development due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors.

Until the test is refined to be more reliable, I believe it should only be used as a second checkpoint (B) and we need to implement an appeal process (checkpoint C) for those who fail the test ASAP. Checkpoint A should remain a valid birth certificate.

CAF and the NFF should push for the adoption of such a process because African football development at this point sadly depends on these international football tournaments.

Niyi

There are several false negatives. As I noted earlier, the first use if this rest applied to youth players from all over the world including the USA. In that case there were multiple false negatives among American players who were clearly within the age.

However, because birth records in the Wedt and USA are credible, MRI is not used for players from those areas. Not so in Nigeria, rest of Africa and Asia.

Thus, several players failing the test in Nigeria may actually be within the correct age.

Then it is a shame the NFF has not challenged this test in any meaningful way since 2013. It is a testimony to an overall neglect of youth football since Pinnick took over the reins of power.

[Lolly]

Every year, there’s a new article about how 50% of the incoming eaglets have failed this MRI test. You would expect the failure rate to trend down every year as more and more potential players planning to cheat realize there is a high chance of being caught and the coaches make them aware of this. I am assuming most of the stakeholders know there is a high probability of being caught for a few reasons but the primary reasons is this: the same coaches and groupsof coaches (Manu, Ugbade, Amunike) have been involved in some form since 2013 and they are aware of the consequences of failing this test- the main consequence is that highlighted by Ohenhen which is the possibility of losing key players and starting all over again with the scouting process at the 11th hour.

So assuming there’s enough awareness and deterrence, I wonder why age cheats keep trying to beat such a test or what else could be happening.

The test is either so unreliable, with a high rate of false negatives, that people (footballers, agents, academy administrators) are aware of this and will keep playing the numbers game to simply see if their overage players will slip through the cracks or the system has such a high rate of false positives that leads to failures even when genuine U17s take the test.

I don’t know enough about the test to say whether it is a high rate of false positives or false negatives but the test is unreliable from available scientific evidence, from the non-diminishing rate of failure every year, and anecdotally I remember the case of USA-born Obinwa who failed this test in 2013. We certainly should not be using this solely to determine who gets to represent the country. It seems like the test does not account sufficiently for variations in bone development due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors.

Until the test is refined to be more reliable, I believe it should only be used as a second checkpoint (B) and we need to implement an appeal process (checkpoint C) for those who fail the test ASAP. Checkpoint A should remain a valid birth certificate.

CAF and the NFF should push for the adoption of such a process because African football development at this point sadly depends on these international football tournaments.

Niyi

There are several false negatives. As I noted earlier, the first use if this rest applied to youth players from all over the world including the USA. In that case there were multiple false negatives among American players who were clearly within the age.

However, because birth records in the Wedt and USA are credible, MRI is not used for players from those areas. Not so in Nigeria, rest of Africa and Asia.

Thus, several players failing the test in Nigeria may actually be within the correct age.

Then it is a shame the NFF has not challenged this test in any meaningful way since 2013. It is a testimony to an overall neglect of youth football since Pinnick took over the reins of power.

I posted an article here that said only 3 failed from the team that played in the WAFCON qualifiers a couple of months ago when Ugbade was the coach. Manu Garba comes in and does what all our coaches like to do, open camp and bring in their own players. And boom, over 50% fail the test. But you guys keep blaming NFF and CAF.

If you follow youth football in Nigeria and even senior football, very few of the players use their real age. Even if you are truly 16, the agents would tell you to change it to 13.

I know a couple of guys who run academies in the South West and they do their own thorough age checks and even when they play youth competitions, the organisers do similar checks. I sent a young guy to one of them last month and he was taken to a 3-day camp organised by some agents/scouts. They spent the whole of the first day verifying their ages. But they mostly rely on passports or affidavits. But it’s the agents who they rely on to market the players who work with the players to falsify their documents before they can push them to the national youth teams or take them abroad.

[ohenhen1]

So Lolly doesn't want us to blame the NFF.

[Damunk]

This is why all you that just jump at the merest hint of negative news should learn to ‘wait first’.
Like I said, this is mostly down to the dishonesty of our people as pointed out by Garba himself.
The NFF are not even allowing Grade 5, which might seem unfair, but is an extra measure to avoid the kids going on to ‘fail’ the test barely a few months later. Grade 5 is the last phase before final fusion of the bone plates.

I believe this is what happened to Ndidi back in his youth days.

Manu Garba clears air on MRI test failures in Golden Eaglets camp

https://ntm.ng/2024/05/06/manu-garba-cl ... lets-camp/

GOLDEN Eaglets head coach Manu Garba has insisted that his squad is intact and preparing for the WAFU B U-17 Championship in Ghana despite reports of several players being dropped for failing MRI age tests.

Garba, who led the Golden Eaglets to the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 2013, told Nigerians to ignore stories of large failures of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests in his team and rather believe that his crew will put together a squad that will be successful at next year’s Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after the tournament in Ghana.

“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U-17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI test conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U-17 tournament,” Garba told thenff.com.

“When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI test they conducted showed that their players were in grade 5. These had to leave the camp immediately.

“Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or the other have been exposed after the NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago, and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with the requirements of the NFF.

“The NFF insists on players whose result is between Grade 1 – 4. Players in Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.”

Garba denied that his camp had been thrown into confusion due to results of the MRI tests.

“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U-17 tournament in Accra, Ghana,” added the coach who was recently reappointed.

The NFF explained that another MRI test will be conducted by the medical team of the Confederation of African Football before the beginning of the tournament.

Five-time world champions Golden Eaglets, who are title holders of the WAFU B U-17 Championship, will begin the defence of their title against Burkina Faso on the 16 May.

The team has so far played nine friendly games, winning six, drawing two and losing one.

[Enugu II]

This is why all you that just jump at the merest hint of negative news should learn to ‘wait first’.
Like I said, this is mostly down to the dishonesty of our people as pointed out by Garba himself.
The NFF are not even allowing Grade 5, which might seem unfair, but is an extra measure to avoid the kids going on to ‘fail’ the test barely a few months later.
I believe this is what happened to Ndidi back in his youth days.

Manu Garba clears air on MRI test failures in Golden Eaglets camp

https://ntm.ng/2024/05/06/manu-garba-cl ... lets-camp/

GOLDEN Eaglets head coach Manu Garba has insisted that his squad is intact and preparing for the WAFU B U-17 Championship in Ghana despite reports of several players being dropped for failing MRI age tests.

Garba, who led the Golden Eaglets to the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 2013, told Nigerians to ignore stories of large failures of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests in his team and rather believe that his crew will put together a squad that will be successful at next year’s Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after the tournament in Ghana.

“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U-17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI test conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U-17 tournament,” Garba told thenff.com.

“When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI test they conducted showed that their players were in grade 5. These had to leave the camp immediately.

“Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or the other have been exposed after the NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago, and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with the requirements of the NFF.

“The NFF insists on players whose result is between Grade 1 – 4. Players in Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.”

Garba denied that his camp had been thrown into confusion due to results of the MRI tests.

“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U-17 tournament in Accra, Ghana,” added the coach who was recently reappointed.

The NFF explained that another MRI test will be conducted by the medical team of the Confederation of African Football before the beginning of the tournament.

Five-time world champions Golden Eaglets, who are title holders of the WAFU B U-17 Championship, will begin the defence of their title against Burkina Faso on the 16 May.

The team has so far played nine friendly games, winning six, drawing two and losing one.

Thanks for the update. Clearly, the NFF is doing what it should do. It means that they even decamped players who are currently eligible based on tests but are likely to fasil the tests as the competition goes further. This is a strategy that the NFF has been using for a while i.e. that players who currently pass as Grade V are rejected. This is exactly what happened in the case of Ndidi years ago. Again, it means that players who are legitimately within the age range are rejected given that what matters is this MRI test and not whether you are really within the actual age range or not.

[Damunk]

This is why all you that just jump at the merest hint of negative news should learn to ‘wait first’.
Like I said, this is mostly down to the dishonesty of our people as pointed out by Garba himself.
The NFF are not even allowing Grade 5, which might seem unfair, but is an extra measure to avoid the kids going on to ‘fail’ the test barely a few months later.
I believe this is what happened to Ndidi back in his youth days.

Manu Garba clears air on MRI test failures in Golden Eaglets camp

https://ntm.ng/2024/05/06/manu-garba-cl ... lets-camp/

GOLDEN Eaglets head coach Manu Garba has insisted that his squad is intact and preparing for the WAFU B U-17 Championship in Ghana despite reports of several players being dropped for failing MRI age tests.

Garba, who led the Golden Eaglets to the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 2013, told Nigerians to ignore stories of large failures of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests in his team and rather believe that his crew will put together a squad that will be successful at next year’s Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after the tournament in Ghana.

“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U-17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI test conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U-17 tournament,” Garba told thenff.com.

“When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI test they conducted showed that their players were in grade 5. These had to leave the camp immediately.

“Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or the other have been exposed after the NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago, and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with the requirements of the NFF.

“The NFF insists on players whose result is between Grade 1 – 4. Players in Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.”

Garba denied that his camp had been thrown into confusion due to results of the MRI tests.

“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U-17 tournament in Accra, Ghana,” added the coach who was recently reappointed.

The NFF explained that another MRI test will be conducted by the medical team of the Confederation of African Football before the beginning of the tournament.

Five-time world champions Golden Eaglets, who are title holders of the WAFU B U-17 Championship, will begin the defence of their title against Burkina Faso on the 16 May.

The team has so far played nine friendly games, winning six, drawing two and losing one.

Thanks for the update. Clearly, the NFF is doing what it should do. It means that they even decamped players who are currently eligible based on tests but are likely to fasil the tests as the competition goes further. This is a strategy that the NFF has been using for a while i.e. that players who currently pass as Grade V are rejected. This is exactly what happened in the case of Ndidi years ago. Again, it means that players who are legitimately within the age range are rejected given that what matters is this MRI test and not whether you are really within the actual age range or not.

Exactly.
So there will always be innocent victims as you describe.
But those clubs and agents providing fake scans in an attempt to push their wards through and cheat the system should be ashamed of themselves.

Well done NFF.

[Enugu II]

This is why all you that just jump at the merest hint of negative news should learn to ‘wait first’.
Like I said, this is mostly down to the dishonesty of our people as pointed out by Garba himself.
The NFF are not even allowing Grade 5, which might seem unfair, but is an extra measure to avoid the kids going on to ‘fail’ the test barely a few months later.
I believe this is what happened to Ndidi back in his youth days.

Manu Garba clears air on MRI test failures in Golden Eaglets camp

https://ntm.ng/2024/05/06/manu-garba-cl ... lets-camp/

GOLDEN Eaglets head coach Manu Garba has insisted that his squad is intact and preparing for the WAFU B U-17 Championship in Ghana despite reports of several players being dropped for failing MRI age tests.

Garba, who led the Golden Eaglets to the FIFA U-17 World Cup title in 2013, told Nigerians to ignore stories of large failures of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests in his team and rather believe that his crew will put together a squad that will be successful at next year’s Africa U-17 Cup of Nations after the tournament in Ghana.

“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U-17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI test conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U-17 tournament,” Garba told thenff.com.

“When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI test they conducted showed that their players were in grade 5. These had to leave the camp immediately.

“Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or the other have been exposed after the NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago, and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with the requirements of the NFF.

“The NFF insists on players whose result is between Grade 1 – 4. Players in Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.”

Garba denied that his camp had been thrown into confusion due to results of the MRI tests.

“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U-17 tournament in Accra, Ghana,” added the coach who was recently reappointed.

The NFF explained that another MRI test will be conducted by the medical team of the Confederation of African Football before the beginning of the tournament.

Five-time world champions Golden Eaglets, who are title holders of the WAFU B U-17 Championship, will begin the defence of their title against Burkina Faso on the 16 May.

The team has so far played nine friendly games, winning six, drawing two and losing one.

Thanks for the update. Clearly, the NFF is doing what it should do. It means that they even decamped players who are currently eligible based on tests but are likely to fasil the tests as the competition goes further. This is a strategy that the NFF has been using for a while i.e. that players who currently pass as Grade V are rejected. This is exactly what happened in the case of Ndidi years ago. Again, it means that players who are legitimately within the age range are rejected given that what matters is this MRI test and not whether you are really within the actual age range or not.

Exactly.
So there will always be innocent victims as you describe.
But those clubs and agents providing fake scans in an attempt to push their wards through and cheat the system should be ashamed of themselves.

Well done NFF.

It is crazy but "Football Age" is a real thing in Nigeria and is frankly harmful to Nigeria's football. In my view, this is a scourge that the academies should also be serious about. Today, we have some old men parading as academy players. If academies are serious, such problems should be wiped out or severely limited.

[Cellular]

Every year, there’s a new article about how 50% of the incoming eaglets have failed this MRI test. You would expect the failure rate to trend down every year as more and more potential players planning to cheat realize there is a high chance of being caught and the coaches make them aware of this. I am assuming most of the stakeholders know there is a high probability of being caught for a few reasons but the primary reasons is this: the same coaches and groupsof coaches (Manu, Ugbade, Amunike) have been involved in some form since 2013 and they are aware of the consequences of failing this test- the main consequence is that highlighted by Ohenhen which is the possibility of losing key players and starting all over again with the scouting process at the 11th hour.

So assuming there’s enough awareness and deterrence, I wonder why age cheats keep trying to beat such a test or what else could be happening.

The test is either so unreliable, with a high rate of false negatives, that people (footballers, agents, academy administrators) are aware of this and will keep playing the numbers game to simply see if their overage players will slip through the cracks or the system has such a high rate of false positives that leads to failures even when genuine U17s take the test.

I don’t know enough about the test to say whether it is a high rate of false positives or false negatives but the test is unreliable from available scientific evidence, from the non-diminishing rate of failure every year, and anecdotally I remember the case of USA-born Obinwa who failed this test in 2013. We certainly should not be using this solely to determine who gets to represent the country. It seems like the test does not account sufficiently for variations in bone development due to genetic, nutritional, or environmental factors.

Until the test is refined to be more reliable, I believe it should only be used as a second checkpoint (B) and we need to implement an appeal process (checkpoint C) for those who fail the test ASAP. Checkpoint A should remain a valid birth certificate.

CAF and the NFF should push for the adoption of such a process because African football development at this point sadly depends on these international football tournaments.

Chief, why would the NFF push for the adoption of anything that will clean up an opportunity to cheat?

2024 we are still talking about this same $#%?!!!

Dem say for my side, when you allow a bad thing or an abomination to reach a year and keep reoccurring, then it becomes culture.

If this was a private enterprise, trust me, they would find a way to authenticate someone's age without the use of no damn MRI.

[ohenhen1]

The NFF didn't hire a coach until 1 month before the start of the tournament. All the CE members looking for excuses for them is part of the problem.

[Lolly]

The NFF didn't hire a coach until 1 month before the start of the tournament. All the CE members looking for excuses for them is part of the problem.

You are a major problem to discussions here but you don’t know it.

Aren’t you aware that there was already an U17 team before Manu was appointed? That same team played and qualified for the tournament that Manu is leading the team to. So you should say the NFF replaced the coach and the coach already has team to work with. He wasn’t starting from ground zero. How is that difficult for you to understand?

[anointed]

The MRI test is not 100 percent correct all the time. There are false positives.

The blame is on the NFF. Appointing a coach 1 month before an event. Waiting untill the last minute to do MRI tests. Normally the MRI tests are done much earlier to get eligible players for campaign. It takes time to teach youngsters how to play footall. Ideally they should have been in the U15 program before graduating to the U17 team. Whatever happened to the U15 program?

I wish Manu Garba well. He has a difficult job.

You don't give up, do you?

Why would someone who is over 17 years even present documents evidencing a false age?

Because the country has no serious record keeping antecedents. And because he can fraudulently obtain forged documents within minutes.

Not that there aren't records at all, but corrupt people will punch holes in the use where it exists. About 30 years after I left primary school, my school register with my name and age was intact and in pristine order.

If someone suggests that all prospective age group players should come with their pry 6 cert, I can assure some critical mass of people will start raising hell that NFF wants to disenfranchise some people in the country. Believe me, the pry 6 cert can't be easily forged because it is open to straightforward corroboration through school registers. In fact, as far as I know, only the rightful owners can collect it, not proxies.

The problem is we are so corrupt we don't want solutions. Nigeria wanted to run a census complete with finger prints. It was opposed by some people. Electronic voting was proposed at some point. Again, it was opposed. During the last elections, INEC said its transporters can only be paid by cash because not all of them had bank accounts. In these days of fintechs. In 2023 O.

Ol' boy, wake up and smell the akamu. It's corruption, corruption, corruption.

Are American and European players who are u16 identified by MRI scans or their long, consistent records?

[onovo]

The NFF didn't hire a coach until 1 month before the start of the tournament. All the CE members looking for excuses for them is part of the problem.

You are a major problem to discussions here but you don’t know it.

Aren’t you aware that there was already an U17 team before Manu was appointed? That same team played and qualified for the tournament that Manu is leading the team to. So you should say the NFF replaced the coach and the coach already has team to work with. He wasn’t starting from ground zero. How is that difficult for you to understand?

Which U-17 team are you talking about ? or Is it the hurriedly assembled U-16 team that was denied Visa to Spain you are talking about ? Your NFF are bunch of unserious people whom are not willing to develop football. Appointing a youth Coach few days to competition, is that not an act of Insanity ?

[ohenhen1]

I hope people that are visiting this site see why Nigeria is not developing. You have people making excuses for bad administrators. They are now blaming the people that submitted false paperwork and MRI records. Not going to talk about why it is so easy to ger falsified records. Why did the NfF leave it to the last minute to do their own checks.
Stpp making excuses, it is the fault of the NFF, it is also the fault of the civil servant that are collecting bribe to falsifying records. Stop destracting people from the problem and fix the problem.

[Sunset]

[ohenhen1]

So what did Nigeria learn from this crisis?