We Weren't Biased, We Have Selected The Best Players Says Manu Garba

Flying Eagles coach Manu Garba says he has selected his 21 players for the FIFA U20 World Cup based on merit, and nothing else.


Manu announced his final squad to the competition in New Zealand last Friday, with the only top casualty being Alhassan ‘Muazam’ Ibrahim, but Manu says he has done his selections based on what the players have been able to do for the team and for their clubs.

“I have always said it that we would select our players based on merit and not on sentiments,” he said.

“We have been with the boys for some time now and we have selected them based on what we have seen of them.

“If it were possible I would have selected all of them because they’re all very good players but we only have to pick a specified number and we have selected only the best of them at this minute.”

The former Nigeria U17 coach also spoke on why he selected some of the overseas based players who aren’t with the team in Germany.

“None of those boys (overseas based) got selected because they play abroad. We understand their clubs couldn’t release them and you can’t blame the boys for that but we monitored their progress for their clubs and we are satisfied,” he added.