NFF technical c’ttee meets today to grill Manu Garba

• …Favours foreign coach for Super Eagles

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical committee will today meet to grill the newly appointed head Coach of the Nigeria U17 boys, Golden Eaglets, Manu Garba.

It will be recalled that the former U17 World Cup winner led the Golden Eaglets to win the FIFA U17 World Cup for Nigeria in the United Arab Emirates in 2013 – Nigeria’s fourth triumph at that stage.

A member of the committee who spoke exclusively to Daily Trust said contrary to reports that a new Super Eagles coach will be named today, the committee member who pleaded not to be named said the meeting is to meet with Manu and deliberate on his programmes for the forthcoming WAFU B tournament.

The Super Eagles’ job became vacant following the expiration of Jose Peseiro’s contract after the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations ended in February.

It was gathered that the NFF want a substantive coach ahead of the crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier against South Africa and Benin Republic in June.

The foreign coaches in the race are Dutchman Danny Buijs, Portuguese Toni Conceicao and Spanish Domenec Torrent.

“No coach for the Super Eagles will be announced tomorrow (today) as our main agenda is to parley with Manu Garba on his new role as the U17 coach and discuss what we expect from him ahead next month’s WAFU B U17 Championship. He will also have to tell us his programmes for the team.

“Also, we won’t be announcing Super Eagles coach tomorrow. It is not our responsibility, but I can tell you that most members of the committee want a foreign coach for the Super Eagles.

“I believe the committee will make its recommendation to the NFF along this line, but they will take the final decision,” the member said, pleading not to be named.

Meanwhile 51 players have been invited by Manu to camp in preparation for the 2024 WAFU B Under-17 tournament in Ghana which will commence in Accra on May 15 and end on May 29, 2024, and the final squad list for the participating countries is expected to be submitted, at most, a week before the tournament.