Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets held their final training session before the WAFU B U-17 Championship on a poorly maintained, termite-infested five-a-side pitch in Ouagadougou on Tuesday evening.
The team had been due to train at the USFA football pitch in the Burkinabe capital ahead of their opening Group B match against Niger Republic on Wednesday.
But when the Nigerian delegation arrived, it found that USFA had scheduled a friendly match at the same time as the Eaglets’ session. The squad was consequently redirected to a nearby five-a-side facility beside the main pitch.
The alternative venue provided an unsuitable surface for a team preparing for a major international competition. The condition of the pitch, including the damage caused by termites, left the players disappointed as they completed their final preparations.
Nigeria’s U-17 team manager Paul Okwudolor attempted to contact the championship organisers about the situation, but had been unable to reach them at the time of filing the report.
Despite the disruption, the technical crew and players have chosen to move on from the incident and concentrate on their first fixture of the tournament.
Nigeria will face Niger Republic and Cote d’Ivoire in Group B, with the Golden Eaglets aiming to reach the knockout stages of the competition.
The WAFU B U-17 Championship also acts as a qualifying tournament for next year’s U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, increasing the importance of a positive start for Nigeria.