Solomon Nwoke
12 January 2009
COACH Ladan Bosso of the National Under 20 team has beating his chest at the Lagos Airport Friday night as he led his boys out for the African Youth Championship (AYC) which begins on January 18 in Rwanda.
He said his mission is to qualify for the World Youth Championship in Egypt later this year.he evasive coach, well equipped with the bunch of stars, was sure of accomplishing that.
Ten of his players are from the Korea Under 17 side that won that U-17 World cup At worst, my first target is to qualify the country for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt this year, then after that, we take the AYC trophy home which I have the confidence that these players can deliver"
"Of course, the way we have prepared is the same way other countries we are going to meet at the tournament have done. But I want to assure Nigerians that we'll make them proud with the support of everyone.
"Everything that we need to make this outing a successful one in terms of finance and logistics have been provided and I thank the federal government and Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF ) for their support", he said.
The embattled coach of the Flying Eagles however explained the reason he dropped 'super sub' Akinsola Kabiru, Osanga King who were integral parts of the Korea World U-17 winning team. Coach Bosso said Akinsola arrived late to camp, and that home-based player, Okechukwu Uchebo of Rangers of Enugu has displaced him.
On the other hand, King Osanga lost his place because he could not perform optimally in training sessions.e said, "Akinsola, is a good player but before he came, home-based players have established themselves. He was late.
"The last friendly match that we played against Heartland of Owerri which formed the basis for selecting these players, those home-based players that came in the second half did better. Everybody at the match venue saw that. People would have suspected a foul play if I had dropped Okey Uchebo for Akinsola. Uchebo has been a very consistent player, so I didn't give in to sentiment in my team's selection.e said he had selected the best for Nigeria.
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