Former doctor of the Golden Eaglets, Ayodeji Olarinoye, has maintained that players who posted Grade 5 results in the recent MRI age test ought to be eligible for next month’s U17 AFCON in Benin Republic going by his experience.
SCORENigeria has specially reported that the pass rate has been pegged to Grade 4, but Olarinoye, who was team doctor of the Eaglets when they conquered the world in 2013 and 2015, disagreed based on his own experience.
Olarinoye recalled that a similar scenario played out in 2012, but the rule was followed to the letter after seeking clarification from then head of the medical department at the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
CAF have since changed their guidelines for the U17 men competition, clearly stating that any country with ineligible player(s) will be disqualified hence the cautious decision by NFF.
“Anyone that has been involved with the MRI era Golden Eaglets knows what it takes to discover players that will finally be within the required grades. Players now on Grade 5 will definitely be eligible for the upcoming WAFUB tournament, there’s no guarantee that players on grades 1-4 will remain eligible for subsequent competitions ( AFCON U17 & World Cup) as no one can determine the rate of growth of the radial epiphysis (bone of the wrist),” Olarinoye explained.
“I can confirm that some of our past U17 players plying their trades in different leagues around the world were on Grade 5 during the qualifiers and up until the World Cup.
“I don’t think it will be fair to the country if we screened out these players ourselves.
“It will always be a tough one for any U17 coach as he can only work with players declared eligible by the MRI machine. For this reason, the U17 team should spend ample time in camp for quality elimination by substitution process.”
SCORENigeria has already reported that were the Grade 5 benchmark be reverted to, 31 players and not 20 players, who were adjudged to have passed, will still be with the team heading to Benin Republic early next month.
The only thing I beg of the Golden eaglets coach is to select a very good team.and not like the last edition team who went and disgraced themselves.