Dike rates Eaglets’ AFCON chances

Former Golden Eaglets head coach, Alphonsus Dike has said the nation’s cadet team have the quality to qualify to the knockout stages of the U17 Africa Cup of Nations championship in Morocco.

Eaglets were runners-up from the 2021 WAFU Zone B qualifying tournament in Benin behind group’s winners, Ivory Coast.

In Wednesday’s draw, the nation’s campaigners were drawn in Group B together with Tanzania, Algeria, and Congo. The AFCON U17 championship will be played in Morocco from March 13 – 31, 2021.

Dike said Eaglets have all it takes to qualify from the group as far as they avoid unnecessary distractions.

“I think the team having got to this stage of the championship should be able to excel and qualify from the group to the knockout stage.

“The initial problem the team had was the coronavirus pandemic most of the players were not able to stay together for a while and train properly.

“But you found out that for every game they played in Benin Republic they tried to improve so I think if they are to be kept together for a while with well planned and serious programme they should be able to do well.

“Again, they must avoid distraction from the agents and other influencers. There are certainly going to be distractions from friends and agents once they avoid that distraction they are bound to not only qualify from the group but go ahead to excel.

“No undue pressures must be mounted on the coaches, the agents should allow the players unhindered concentration and once they do well scouts and other such people would assess for themselves their qualities.

“Once we remove these unnecessary and undue pressures there is no how the team will not qualify,” said the former Heartland and Nasarawa United coach.

The world football governing body, Fifa had early cancelled the 2021 edition of the U17 World Cup in Peru due to the novel flu-like coronavirus.