Coach of the Nigeria U20 team Paul Aigbogun has opened up on the criteria he used in selecting his final list of 21 players for the U20 World Youth Championship in Poland.
Aigbogun’s final 21 man squad was released few days ago and it contained some surprises with the coach getting rid of five players who played a role in helping the team qualify for the World Cup by virtue of their 4th place finish at the U20 Africa Cup of Nations.
The coach in an exclusive chat with Owngoalnigeria.com revealed that he would have loved to take as many as 25 players to the tournament if it was possible before revealing how he selected his squad for the tournament.
” I used many variables. Key among them is consistency in training and test games. I also used players position to pick because you can’t have more than one or two players in a particular role”, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” My selection was also based on how we intend to play at the tournament and if the player in question suit our style of play. For instance we pick some players in the forward position because they will offer us something different in attack.
” In defence we had to contend with the absence of Ash Kigbu who wasn’t released by his club by converting Jamilu Mohammed who is originally a defensive midfielder and Peter Eletu who plays as a midfielder can also play in central defence.
” The selection was thorough with the players we had on ground and even some of the players dropped will be handed a recall to the team for the next U20 World Youth Championship because they will still be within the age bracket “, he concluded.
