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By Amaechi Agbo

No fewer than 15 players will be axed from the Flying Eagles team that won bronze at the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON in Egypt ahead of the 2023 World Cup in Indonesia, www.bestchoicesports.com.ng can report authoritatively

The team won bronze on Friday after thrashing Tunisia 4-0 in the 3rd place match.

However, with the technical crew led by Ladan Bosso severely being criticized for the poor performance of the team, Best Choice Sports have been authoritatively informed that 15 out of the 21 players that prosecuted the tournament will not be part of the Indonesia team.

A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, told our correspondent, confidentially, that the majority of the players will not return to camp when the team resume World Cup camping next week.

“I want to tell you on authority that 15 players in the team will be dropped. That team is not what Nigerians yarned for. We all watched them and saw how they played. They could not score goals, so they could not win matches.

“As I speak with you, the 15 players have been penciled down and they will not be recalled to camp when the team begin World Cup camping in a week after the Egypt tournament,” the source told Best Choice Sports

The source noted that the players will be giving a week rest after the AFCON tournament before they reassemble for the World Cup preparations.

Flying Eagles Coach, Bosso acknowledged that the team are deficient.

“We lost stupidly, we were naive from the start,” a disappointed Bosso said after the teammlost their semi-final against Gambia

“We failed to take our chances. I am very frustrated because we had the team to go all the way. Football is cruel. We didn’t measure up.”

Bosso tendered an unreserved apology to Nigerians for his team’s performance at the U-20 AFCON before the team’s third place playoff encounter against Tunisia yesterday.

Nigeria rallied back to victory on Friday in a match regarded as the team’s best outing in the tournament, unfortunately such performance could only fetch them a bronze medal.

The win earned Nigeria the bronze medals for a record-extending fourth time at the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, and the Flying Eagles will also be one of the 24 teams in the pot on 31st March when FIFA conducts the draw for the FIFA U20 World Cup taking place in Indonesia 20th May – 11th June.

The team played six matches, won four and lost two. The lost their opening match 1-0 against Senegal and also had similar scoreline in their semi-final defeat against the Gambia.

However they beat Egypt by alone goal, triumphed over Mozambique by 2-0 and relied on Ibrahim Juma’s own goal to beat Uganda in the quarter-final.