Nigeria U-20 to play in South Africa's 8-nation tournament

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has said the forthcoming Eight-Nation Invitational Tournament in South Africa would be used to assess the national U-20 team in new squad. Head coach of the Flying Eagles John Obuh who disclosed this to reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, however, described as a major setback the inability of players in the U-17 team to move into the national U-20 team. The tournament in Cape Town is scheduled to take place between May 24 and June 3, with Nigeria's Flying Eagles as defending champions. The coach said he was not expecting too much from the team for now, adding that the game would enable the players to test their ability in a competitive match. According to him, the performance of the present crop of players in the team during the trial matches would determine whether there would be any addition or subtraction from the squad. Obuh allayed the fears of clubs that the players might not be released to honor club assignments, saying that playing for their clubs was also good exposure for them. Other countries expected to participate in the tournament are South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Cameroon and Ghana.