Flying Eagles train on Good Friday, drop 3 players

The Nigeria U20 team shunned the holiday festivities to train on Good Friday at the practice pitch of the Abuja National Stadium.

Bernard Bulbwa, Chidera Eze and Ahmed Umar trained outside the main squad as they are nursing injuries.

Bulbwa has a groin injury, Eze is nursing a hamstring strain and Umar has a knock on his right knee.

Chidiebere Nwakali, who also has a knee complaint, took part in all the training drills, but did not feature in the two-a-side game as he has yet to start kicking a football.

Three players have been dropped from the squad preparing for next month’s African Youth Championship qualifier against either Kenya or Tanzania.

The players are midfielders Uche Okereke and Fidelix Irene as well as goalkeeper Zaradeen Usman.

There are now 34 players in the team’s training camp in Abuja.

The Flying Eagles will play another test match on Saturday morning against Nationwide side Dabo Babes of Kano.

The match will kick off at 7am at the FIFA Goal Project in Abuja.

Flying Eagles pick 35 from open trials

The Flying Eagles have picked 35 players after an intensive two-week open screening in Abuja, which attracted over 1,500 hopefuls.

The second phase of the Nigeria U20 team’s training camp will commence in Abuja on Monday, when the 35 players from the open trials are joined by 20 other players who were involved with the country’s U17 team last year.

“We expect a much fiercer competition in the second phase and players need to be more consistent to survive then,” said Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba.

Manu plans to soon form a standing team in time for the Flying Eagles African Youth Championship qualifying match against either Kenya or Tanzania in early May.

PLAYERS PICKED FROM FLYING EAGLES OPEN SCREENING

Goalkeepers: Joshua Enaholo, Adamu Abubakar, Amos Benjamin, Zaradeen Usman

Defenders: Babatunde Ade, Baba Garba Ghaddafi, Mazadu Surajo Abdullahi, Julius Emalaju, Chukwuma Okpara, Timothy Danladi, Ifeanyi Nweke, Bashir Mansur

Midfielders: Anthony Chukwudi Omaka, Fidelis Irene, Samuel Mathias, Uche Okeke, Aremu Abdulhafeez, Raphael Ayagwa, Alashe Sherif Ajibola, Shabanya Jonathan, Uche Chibueze, Bankole Segun, Salman Ibrahim, Jimoh Wasiu

Strikers: Suleiman Abdullahi, Abubakar Lawal, Billy Auta, Mahmoud Mohammed, Orji Promise, Aliyu Sani Jandi, Victory Omadigbe, Eze Chisom, Yakubu Mohammed, Peter Araodion, Isaac Uduak