Abuja – The Flying Eagles Head Coach, Manu Garba, on Thursday said he had invited 35 new players for camping ahead of the team’s African Youth Championship (AYC) final qualifiers against Lesotho.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Flying Eagles, who were returning from a two-week recess, resumed their training camp on Sunday in Abuja.

The national under-20 male football team will host the southern Africans on Aug. 16 in a first leg clash, with the return leg slated for Lesotho two weeks later.

Manu Garba

NAN recalls that the Flying Eagles stopped Tanzania 6-1 on aggregate, while Lesotho edged much-fancied Angola 4-1 after two legs in the second round of qualifying matches.

Garba told NAN that the players were invited to beef up the squad ahead of the team’s final round of qualifiers for the 2015 AYC in Senegal.

“We invited 35 players. Most of them are here, while some are yet to join the camp. We plan to see more players so as to have a stronger team.

“Some of the players invited are from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

“This is because we intend to improve on the maturity of the team, as well as look at some departments which need reinforcement.

“We have two months to prepare for the qualifiers.

“We are however hopeful that we will play one or two friendly matches with other under-20 national teams before the first leg of the qualifiers,’’ he said.

Speaking on the foreign-based players likely to join the squad, Garba said some of them were yet to join the team due to entry visa issues.

“The likes of Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidiebere Nwakali are yet to join the team as they are working on their visas.

“As soon as they are done with all the modalities, they will join us here in camp.

“However, other foreign-based players like Chidera Eze, Wilfred Ndidi and team captain Musa Mohammed have all reported to the camp,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the overall winners will advance to the 2015 AYC to be hosted by Senegal in March.(NAN)