Did It Matter If Nigeria National Teams Looses In Age Grade Football Competitions?

 

I hear many analysts from a school of thought say, it didn't matter whether Nigeria national teams looses in age grade football competitions such as U17 and U21 world cups, because they are only developmental tournaments.

 I don't think they actually understand what they are saying. 

Apart from the Dream Team which won gold medal in 1996 Atlanta Olympics, only the Nigeria U17, Golden Eaglets, has won world title five times, and placed Nigeria among the committee of footballing nations of the world. 

It immediately tells you that winning at the U17 level still mean a lot to us as a nation Nigeria. Our Flying eagles have been able to play in the finals of world youth championship in 2005 (now called U21 World Cup). 

These age grade competitions provide a platform to expose our young talents and accelerate their career into top flight football in Europe. 

NFF usually turn their back on Golden Eaglets or Flying Eagles set that didn't qualify or perform well at the world Cup. None of the players will ever be invited again to the national team,. 

Players of failed eaglets or flying eagles set may find it very difficult to make progress into top flight football again. They may have lost their chance of coming to limelight. 

Age grade competitions has helped lots of talents such as John Mikel Obi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen...sign good contracts in Europe. 

Moreover, if our age grade national teams continue to perform poorly overtime, the senior national team may not have reservoir of good and quality tested players to fortify the  Super Eagles team in the future. 

These are some of the reasons NFF must consider to put premium effort to ensure Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles continue to do well and win laurels for our country Nigeria.