The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has ordered all the players that featured at the last CAN Under-17 tournament in Morocco as well as those picked from the recent screening exercise to undergo the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan before reporting at the team's Princeville Hotel Camp which opens on Monday (July 22) in Calabar.
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Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, the Federation's Director Technical, disclosed that it is imperative that some of the players that won the silver medal last April be subjected to the MRI scan yet again since confirmation is needed to determine their present status.
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The MRI test has become a regular feature at the FIFA U-17 World Cup since 2009 to help ascertain whether players are over age or not and Dr. Ikpeme further added that the NFF will follow the rule as stipulated by the world soccer ruling body, FIFA, to the letter.
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"We are conscious of the fact that only players within the stipulated age brackets would be allowed to compete at the FIFA World Cup," he said.
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"As a result, we are equally extending the MRI test to some of the players that represented the country in Morocco."
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It was learnt that only players that fall between Grade 1 and 5 of the MRI scan are eligible for the world championship, which accounted for the need to carry out an empirical test to ascertain the veracity of those who were in Grades 3-5 during the African Cadet Championship in Morocco.
Nigeria Football Federation has done the right thing by saying this..Eaglets will do great if they go ahead with this one.