GARBA WELCOMES UGBADE’S RETURN TO EAGLETS

Nigeria, July 26, 2016 – Golden Eaglets’ Head Coach, Manu Garba (OON) has described the arrival of Coach Nduka Ugbade to the U-17 National Camp in Abuja on Sunday as a good addition that would bolster the team’s quest for a ticket to the next Africa U17 Cup of Nations to be held in Madagascar next year.

Ugbade was FIFA U-16 World Cup-winning captain in 1985 and Garba’ assistant when Nigeria won her fourth FIFA U-17 World in 2013 in the UAE, and when the Flying Eagles won a record seventh Africa U-20 title in Senegal in 2015. The former Super Eagle was reappointed into the country’s cadet side last week by the board of Nigeria Football Federation.

Garba, while introducing Ugbade at the team Monday’s morning training session at the NFF\FIFA Goal Project pitch, said the former Nigerian international would bring his wealth of his experience to bear on the team.

“I’m happy to introduce coach (Nduka) Ugbade. We have worked together both with Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles and for some of you who don’t know him, he was the captain when Nigeria won the Kodak U-16 World Cup in China in 1985,” explained Garba. “As I have repeatedly said, you have to listen to us and we are one big family here; and we want you to listen because you have so much to learn from him (Ugbade).”

In his post-mortem of Monday’s training, Ugbade said he was impressed with the calibre of players already assembled, promising to contribute his own quota to the success of the team.Golden Eaglets’ coordinator, Prince Udofia, was equally excited about Ugbade, praising the NFF for rallying support towards the success of the team.

“I’ve heard so much interesting things about Coach Ugbade and I’m quite impressed with what I have seen of him even on his first day at our training,” explained the former tough-tackling defender of Bayelsa United. “He combines coaching with psychology and I think he’s a hard worker which is good for the boys.”

The Golden Eaglets have stepped up preparation towards next week’s Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against neighbouring Niger Republic.