Reliable defender David Ishaya and midfielder Alfred Olaniyan have missed out on the forthcoming U17 World Cup in Brazil no thanks to injury.
Central defender Ishaya, who was at last year’s U17 AFCON zonal qualifiers in Niger as well as the U17 AFCON in Tanzania in April, has failed to recover from a mysterious ankle injury.
His first-team place has been taken by striker-turned-defender Usman Mohammed from the Nigeria U16s.
However, promising defensive midfielder Francis Daniel, who recently featured at the Bayern Munich Youth Cup in Germany, is a late gate crasher to the squad.
Daniel aka Dada is from FC Hearts and has already caught the eye of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr.
Otherwise, coach Manu Garba has settled for his tried and trusted players led by skipper Samson Tijani, Akinwunmi Amoo and Olakunle Olusegun, who featured at both the zonal qualifiers as well as the U17 AFCON.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Eaglets flew out of Abuja via Dubai to Brazil for a training camp in Sao Paulo.
A final 21-man squad will be named by October 16.
