₦airaland Forum

fter months of preparations, the 13th edition of the FIFA Under 17 World Cup will kick off today with Nigeria taking on the German team in the opening match of the tournament at the National Stadium, Abuja.

Matches will be played in nine cities across Nigeria during the competition, with four on the opening day.

In the other Group A encounter, Honduras take on Argentina, with Brazil engaging Japan in a Group B showdown while Mexico and Switzerland test each other in the other Group B game.

Meanwhile, the result of the controversial Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan test undertaken yesterday by the teams to determine the actual age of the players will also be made known today.

Any player found to be over 17 years will be disqualified from the competition.

For most of yesterday, the National Stadium, Abuja, venue of today's opening match, was a beehive of activities, as finishing touches were being put to the facilities.

Last minute meetings also took place between the Nigerian Local Organising Committee and a FIFA team led by the football body's Vice President, Jack Warner.

Warner said the meeting was to address lapses noticed on arrival by the FIFA team.

He said there were challenges with sound equipment, computers and ambulances that must be available in all the stadia.

“There was no internet connectivity in several of the media centers. We need to have news for all the officers that will be on duty.

“There were challenges with the dressing rooms in one or two of the venues. We discussed all these and more and we have found a way of getting around them.

“The one major challenge that we could not overcome is that we could not get all the practice pitches ready for all the teams.

“However, we were able to come up with solutions for that. So, yes there were challenges but none that we cannot overcome like we did this morning. “But since I am one that expects more than a hundred per cent in any given assignment, I will say I am not satisfied,” Warner said.

Warner said FIFA would always to stick to its high standards in the hosting of the championship and this influenced it not to compromise in the case of Nigeria.

“I was here 10 years ago in 1999 when you hosted the U20 competition and the standards FIFA set then were no different from the one set now.

“FIFA has not lowered the bar and if somehow Nigeria wanted FIFA to do that, FIFA can't do that and I won't be part of that.

“If Egypt can host a competition and did not lower the standards there is no reason why Nigeria should. Nigeria should never expect FIFA to lower the bar.

“That to me is self-defeating and I will not allow that to happen to Nigeria. I want to say of course that FIFA maintains a certain standard and I expect Nigeria to maintain the same standard,” he said.
The LOC's Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mainasera Ilo spoke on the movement of officers to the various centres after the meeting with the FIFA officials.

In their defence, Ilo added: “To the best of my knowledge, everybody that is supposed to be out of Abuja has gone. Also, you must realise that there are people who want to stay for the opening match before leaving for their stations.

“As at this morning (yesterday), I don't have any record of anybody that is supposed to be out that is not out.”

The MRI test uses technology that scans the arrangement of bones in the human body to determine the ages of players fielded for the tournament between 14 to 17 years, which is the stipulated age bracket for the championship.

FIFA's Secretary General, Jerome Valcke said the test was to ensure that the players are within the age bracket approved by FIFA to play in the championship.