Shock and disappointment will tear through the Golden Eaglets training camp in Abuja when the young players are finally told by officials that there will no longer be an U17 AFCON in Morocco this year.
“The boys have not been told yet about the cancellation,” a team official told SCORENigeria
“Many of them are already aware that the competition may be postponed, but not that it has been called off altogether.
“Everything happened so quickly very late in the night.”
The boys had already got set for early morning training today.
They are expected to be addressed by officials that the U17 AFCON will no longer be staged.
This is a huge blow to the careers of many of these players, who had hoped to use the tournament as a shop window to secure lucrative professional contracts overseas like Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen.
The Golden Eaglets were also fired up to put up a better outing in Morocco after they barely scrapped through to the qualifiers in Lome, Togo, earlier this year.
The team were due to fly out to Lagos enroute to Morocco, where they were to begin their campaign on Sunday against Tanzania.
“This is very, very sad. A blow for the boys,” lamented former Golden Eaglets coach Nduka Ugbade.
Yesterday’s CAF emergency committee meeting canceled the U17 AFCON on account of rising cases of Coronavirus in Morocco.
Uncertainties have surrounded the competition since FIFA canceled this year’s U17 World Cup citing the Coronavirus Pandemic.
