Flying Eagles head coach, Aliyu Zubairu has pledged to make adjustments to his squad following the team’s return from the U20 AFCON in Egypt.
The gaffer said the technical crew will carry out a full review of the team’s performance and bring in new faces—especially in the attacking department.
“We are going to sit and evaluate our performance there and evaluate the players individually to know who are those players that cannot continue the journey.”
The coach admitted that the team had shortcomings, particularly in front of goal, and confirmed changes were imminent.
“And we will immediately start looking for those who we are going to invite for replacement. Because definitely we know there are a lot of deficiencies in the team, particularly in the area of attack.”
“And we are going to overhaul the whole department as well. And like you know, maybe you have heard that WAFU tournament is coming up.”
With the WAFU tournament on the horizon, Zubairu says it will serve as a crucial platform to assess new players and reshape the team for future challenges, especially with the FIFA U-20 World Cup in view.
“Now that our president is even the president of WAFU, we want to honor that competition.”
“So I think that is going to be a competition where we are going to even test those who we are going to invite for us to know their level.”
“To know those who can fit into the replacement.”
“Definitely, particularly those that are coming in new, that is going to be the competition we use to test them.”
“To know whether they have the ability to cope. As you can see, most of the players that went to this Nations Cup, some showed a lot of quality before we go there.”
“On getting there, we realized that some cannot really fit into what we are looking for.”
“So this WAFU tournament is going to serve as a yardstick to measure the level of those that will be coming in.”
