Golden Eaglets Head Coach, Manu Garba (MFR) has hailed the impact of the people and Government of Cross River state towards the team’s successful preparation ahead of the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in the UAE.
The Canaan City as Calabar is fondly referred to, has been the adopted home of the National Under-17 team over the last one year and they remarkably won all both their friendly and international matches including three key CAN Championship qualifiers against Niger, Guinea and Mali on their way to a silver medal win in Morocco last April.
Responding to the clarion call delivered to the team on behalf of Senator Liyel Imoke (CON), Executive Governor of Cross River State at the team’s last training session on Saturday, and Garba has nothing but good words to all Cross-Riverians.
He noted that the government as well as several individuals have assisted the team in one way or the other leading to the qualification for the CAN Under-17 Championship and eventual qualification for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup since 2009.
“ We are not unmindful of the fact that Nigeria had failed to qualify for the last two African Under-17 Championships and there is no way we can forget all the assistance we got form His Excellency and the people of Cross River State in general,” said Garba .
“We have no regret about our coming to Calabar because we achieved our objectives of first and foremost qualifying Nigeria for both the African and FIFA Under-17 Championship and without any doubt, Cross River State gave us all the support to excel,” he further noted.
Garba in the meantime, is full of high hopes as he leads his troop to the 15th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup despite being drawn against defending Champions, Mexico, Iraq and Sweden for the Preliminary Round: “We are going to the World Cup knowing that we have the support of people of Cross River State and Nigerians in general and on our part, we shall do our best to bring the trophy home again.”
