Nigeria is cheating --lying about ages

Europe

Mentor
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
1,642
Nigeria had to drop 15 players off of their u17 World Cup team because they were too old. They won it 2 years ago. I wonder how many of those players were too old.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/8223125.stm

Nigeria drops players after scans
By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport, Lagos



Nigeria are reigning under-17 world champions and the hosts this year
Nigeria have dropped 15 players from their Under-17 World Cup squad, following tests to determine the ages of team members.

Nigeria are the hosts of the tournament, which kicks off at the end of October.

The move to scan the players came after football's world governing body Fifa announced plans to carry out tests during the tournament itself.

Coach John Obuh now has a squad of 23 players remaining for the event.

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) spokesman Ademola Olajire told the BBC the move to drop the 15 had been taken after the results of the tests were discovered, and on performance grounds.

"The decision was taken because the NFF was concerned with the preservation of Nigeria's good image," said Olajire.

NFF President Sani Lulu Abdullahi said the decision to drop the players would not prevent Nigeria from the defending the title they won in South Korea two years ago.

"We had 38 players in camp and some of them failed [age tests]," he was quoted as saying.

"[But] that does not mean that we do not have a team that will represent us at the World Cup - we still have a good team."

Nigeria have won the Under-17 World Cup three times, in 1985, 1993 and 2007.

The Golden Eaglets, as Nigeria's under-17 team is known, have been drawn against Germany, Argentina and Honduras in the first round and will be based in Abuja.
 

jwhite96

Guru
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
206
It seems to be an African tradition. When Ghana won several U17 FIFA World Championships in a row while never qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, it was obviously quite suspicious. There was even a saying "In Ghana you are not born until you are 12 years old". An example is Freddie Adu who was always suspected of being much older than he claimed. His lack of any sucessful in Pro football in Europe as well as in the MLS, seems to confirm he was not the prodigy everyone raved about. Edited by: jwhite96
 
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