U17 team crisis- Manu Garba having problems

[ohenhen1]

I am not going to blame Manu Garba for the mess. This has got to be the worst NFF in NIgeria history. It continues to get worse. My hope was for them to improve. Ebe like say they are declining. Imagine NIgeria don't even have a team to present. The list is due on May 6. Competition starts on May 15. When are they going to start gelling together? Let me remind people, grassroots football is important. Withou it we will not have Victor Osimhen, Ndidi. Iheanacho, Boniface, Omeruo, and etc that are currently in the national team.

The Golden Eaglets are again literally racing against time to present a team for a successful defence of the WAFU B U17 championship after more than half the first team failed the mandatory MRI age test.

https://scorenigeria.com.ng/exclusive-d ... -age-test/

[ohenhen1]

Dont be shocked if they don;t win any games or even withdraw from the tournament.

[Damunk]

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.

[Lolly]

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.

[ohenhen1]

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.

[Lolly]

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.

[ohenhen1]

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?

[greg]

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.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

MRI bone density scan used to determine age is likely to have a higher error rate amongst Africans because our bones are more dense than that of other races anyway, This is one of the reasons Africans rarely suffer from osteoporosis or brittle bone disease. I doubt very much that even a corrupt Nff would field a team that has 90% overage players these days. They really need to look at this closer, otherwise we’ll lose generations of talent on a false premise. Unfortunately, our medical institutions don’t do research so we have to rely on the oyibo we don’t want near our teams to show evidence.

If bone bone density of young African Americans, most of whom have some Euro genes, is higher than that of white kids, you can imagine how it could much higher for African kids in Africa that are 100% African. This could be a scam.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9024231 ... or%20women.

[icee]

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.

KPOM!.

[Damunk]

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?

You are talking rubbish with supreme confidence as usual, sprinkled with a dash of Captain Obvious ‘wisdom’..

Whether or not it is “‘last minute”, it is ridiculous that “more than half” of a supposed u17 team should fail the MRI test.
In a normal society, ALL should pass it and worse case one or two should be borderline.

YOU are the one focussing on the wrong thing, which simply encourages the problem indirectly.

[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?

Even when it was done early we still had high failure rate because we are serial cheats.

Its not about timeliness of the test but a culture of dishonesty.

[Damunk]

MRI bone density scan used to determine age is likely to have a higher error rate amongst Africans because our bones are more dense than that of other races anyway, This is one of the reasons Africans rarely suffer from osteoporosis or brittle bone disease. I doubt very much that even a corrupt Nff would field a team that has 90% overage players these days. They really need to look at this closer, otherwise we’ll lose generations of talent on a false premise. Unfortunately, our medical institutions don’t do research so we have to rely on the oyibo we don’t want near our teams to show evidence.

If bone bone density of young African Americans, most of whom have some Euro genes, is higher than that of white kids, you can imagine how it could much higher for African kids in Africa that are 100% African. This could be a scam.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9024231 ... or%20women.

Emir, please…listen to Fela when he says ‘Teacher don’t teach me nonsense’.
When they do MRIs to estimate age brackets, it is NOT bone density they are looking at.
They are looking at growth plates.
Bone density is a completely different area of medical interest.

So the paper you are referencing, apart from being almost 27 yrs old, isn’t relevant in this issue.
We don discuss this matter taya for here over the years. Do a search.
We even wrote to a published world expert on the matter if I remember correctly.

[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?

You are talking rubbish with supreme confidence as usual, sprinkled with a dash of Captain Obvious ‘wisdom’..

Whether or not it is “‘last minute”, it is ridiculous that “more than half” of a supposed u17 team should fail the MRI test.
In a normal society, ALL should pass it and worse case one or two should be borderline.

YOU are the one focussing on the wrong thing, which simply encourages the problem indirectly.

Just unbelievable

[ohenhen1]

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.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

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.

Do live in Nigeria?

[ohenhen1]

First of all history is a great teaching tool. The last several screening has had high failure rate. I am not condoning the age cheating. The problem is the hiring of a coach 1 month before the tournament. A country that knows historically there is a high failure rate waits to the last minute to conduct the MRI tests. The final list is due on March 6th. The tournament starts on May 15. As we speak the coach doesn't even know who is going to be on his team. It takes time to teach young people how to play the game. Whey are scrambling now to find people that can pass the test. It is crazy. Nigeria may have to withdraw from the tournament.

[packerland]

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.

[Enugu II]

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

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

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.

The guy lives in Cyprus and he’s complaining about Japa.

[Lolly]

NFF mandating these kids to do their own private MRI test send one kind. How do they expect them to pay for it and how reliable would it be?

Also, they already had a team that played in the qualifiers in February where 3 failed the MRI tests. So we can conclude that the team has not been hurriedly put together as Ohenhen claims.

https://kissfm999.media/nff-mandates-pr ... onal-team/

22 April 2024

NFF MANDATES PRE –CAMP MRI SCAN TEST TO ENSURE U-17 PLAYERS FALLS WITHIN THE AGE BRACKET FOR NATIONAL TEAM

The Nigeria Football Federation has prioritized pre-camping MRI scans for all players to ensure only those within the right age bracket represent the country at the U17 men’s national team, the Golden Eaglets.

According to the team media officer, Francis Achi, the football body is leaving no margin for errors in order to avoid extensive decimation of the team due to failed MRI tests as in the past.

Players failing the MRI test have been part of the fabric of the team for several years now, which is why the NFF is assiduously working towards nipping it in the bud this term.

In February 2023, three key players who were in Ghana for the WAFU qualifiers failed the age test despite an initial order for all the players in camp to do their own private MRI tests before an official one conducted later by the NFF.

Meanwhile, the Golden Eaglets, under the tutelage of Manu Garba, are training daily at the FIFA Goal Project pitch at Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, preparatory to their WAFU Zone B title defence in Ghana from May 15–29, 2024.

The record five-time world champions have been drawn in Group B alongside Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo following the draw conducted on Friday, which also pitches host Ghana against Benin Republic and Cote d’Ivoire in Group A.

The Golden Eaglets showed promises in their first test game on Saturday by thrashing Ramsaky Football Club 4-2 at the FIFA Goal Project, where a string of test games are lined up to put them in proper shape for the sub-regional tournament.

[onovo]

I am not going to blame Manu Garba for the mess. This has got to be the worst NFF in NIgeria history. It continues to get worse. My hope was for them to improve. Ebe like say they are declining. Imagine NIgeria don't even have a team to present. The list is due on May 6. Competition starts on May 15. When are they going to start gelling together? Let me remind people, grassroots football is important. Withou it we will not have Victor Osimhen, Ndidi. Iheanacho, Boniface, Omeruo, and etc that are currently in the national team.

The Golden Eaglets are again literally racing against time to present a team for a successful defence of the WAFU B U17 championship after more than half the first team failed the mandatory MRI age test.

https://scorenigeria.com.ng/exclusive-d ... -age-test/

@Ohenhen I did open a thread recently about how our NFF has destroyed youth football. If you notice for some time now after the Maigari led NFF. Our youth team has been reduced to adhoc team. Coaches are appointed one/two week to major qualifying tournament and have to hurriedly assemble a team. The NFF IS A BIG DISGRACE. THEY ARE NOT SERIOUS WITH YOUTH FOOTBALL

[onovo]

First of all history is a great teaching tool. The last several screening has had high failure rate. I am not condoning the age cheating. The problem is the hiring of a coach 1 month before the tournament. A country that knows historically there is a high failure rate waits to the last minute to conduct the MRI tests. The final list is due on March 6th. The tournament starts on May 15. As we speak the coach doesn't even know who is going to be on his team. It takes time to teach young people how to play the game. Whey are scrambling now to find people that can pass the test. It is crazy. Nigeria may have to withdraw from the tournament.

@ Ohenhen, this MRI is nothing new to African countries. During last WAFU U-17 in Ghana, The Ghanaian black starlet had all their players disqualified by the MRI barely few days to the competition. Coach Fabian Kwesi had to hurriedly assemble new set of players for the competition, and it was a disaster for Ghana. Manu Garba for his dignity ought to have rejected this job on the onset. This team is shabbily prepared for the competition.