Golden Eaglets Coach Manu Garba has threatened to lodge a formal complaint against Iranian coach Ali Doustimehr for insinuating that the Nigerians were playing with players over the age of 17 at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup here in the United Arab Emirates.
Manu Garba, head coach of Nigeria ponders during the FIFA U17 group F match between Sweden and Nigeria at Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium on October 22, 2013 in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Photo by FIFA
The Eaglets have been in scintillating form, where they have netted 18 goals in four matches, the latest being a 4-1 thrashing of Iran on Tuesday in a round of 16 match at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium.
Mesmerized with the Eaglets strong show, the Iranian coach, Ali Doustimehr, made a subtle remark, casting doubts over the true ages of the Nigerians and responding to the jibe, Coach Garba said that his players here passed all the MRI tests conducted by CAF and FIFA, prior to the African U-17 tournament and ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Coach Garba said that “we are going to officially take it up with the Iranian coach if he does not take back his words. Back in January before the CAF U-17 tournament, a memo was sent to us that all the players were going to do MRI tests for the wrist bones and we did.
“A month before we came here, another test was done by FIFA for all the players and the ones here passed. So I do not know what he is talking about”, Garba wondered.
No comments:
Post a Comment