Former Golden Eaglets star, Nwankwo Kanu has described Nigeria’s absence at the FIFA U-17 World Cup billed for October 6-28 in India as a sad occurrence for a country that have won the tournament for a record five times. Kanu Nwankwo Nigeria failed to qualify for the AFCON U-17 in
Gabon after they succumbed to Niger Republic in the qualifiers. The Golden Eaglets were the African and world champions in 2015. “It is hard to take that my country, Nigeria would not be participating in the championship in India,” said Kanu who won the Cup with the Eaglets in 1995 in a chat with SCORENigeria. Ghana, Mali, Niger and Guinea will represent Africa. Ghana in Group A, will confront hosts India, USA and Colombia, while Mali will seek to overcome Paraguay, New Zealand and Turkey in Group B. Africa’s third representatives, Guinea, will entertain Iran, Germany and Costa Rica in Group C just as Niger will battle Korea DPR, Brazil and Spain in Group D. “Yes, African teams can do it”, ‘Papilo’ sounded confident. “My optimism stems from the fact that the continent has always been good in age group tournaments. “If I’m not mistaken, Africa has won the tournament more times than any other continent in the World since the tournament started in 1985 in China. “With (Africa) seven titles so far in the FIFA U17 championship, yes, of course, the continent can do it again, it is very possible”.
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