Nigeria’s U-20 team coach, Ladan Bosso escaped being fired on New Year’s Eve by a whisker after angering Nigeria Football Federation officials after the comments he made to the press.

The coach was however, ordered to stay away from the team’s training session on new year’s day and it is not clear when he will be allowed back reported the Daily Trust
Bosso angered his bosses when he said in a radio interview that a proposed training camp to Kenya had been cancelled because the NFF had no money.

The NFF top brass met in Abuja with FA President Sani Lulu insisting on having Bosso fired immediately and moving his assistant Ben Iroha up. But following appeals from other board members, Bosso was given a reprieve.

However, he was ordered to stay away from the team’s training session, and at the moment, it is still unclear whether he will continue to have full control over the team, with certain NFF top shots suggesting that Super Eagles coach Shuaibu Amodu keep an eye on the Un-der-20’s starting from January.

Last week, Bosso, slammed his assistant Ben Iroha, for abandoning the team’s preparations after he embarked on a trip to the United States of America to spend the Christmas holidays with his family.

Under fire Bosso, in an interview on a local station, said that he told his assistant that he wouldn’t be happy to see him traveling to the US as the team intensifies its preparations for the championship.

He said that Iroha should have considered the fact that he (Bosso) just returned from his own vacation for the Muslim festivals of Eid-el-Fitri and Eid-el-Kabir.

"I am not happy that Iroha abandoned Flying Eagles’ preparation and flew to United States to celebrate Christmas with his family,” Bosso began.

"Abandoning the team at this point means that Iroha does not bother much about the success of the team. I thought he should have shown more concern about the team, especially, as most of our foreign-based players would be joining us in training this time around.

"However, I would not want anybody to misunderstand my position. I am not saying that it’s wrong for Iroha to go and spend sometime with his family. No! Rather what I am saying is that this period is very critical in our preparation plan considering the fact that we did not do well at the West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Championship in Delta State.”

Following a string of unimpressive performances of the Flying Eagles, there are strong indications that Coach Samson Siasia may be drafted back to his old haunt, the Under-20 team, by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to oversee the preparations at that level of the national teams.

The African Youth Championship is scheduled to take place from January, 18 to February, 1 2009.

Nigeria, Egypt South Africa and Ivory Coast will be squaring it out in Group B while  hosts Rwanda, Mali, Cameroon and Ghana are placed in Group A.

The Championship is held every two years with the top 4 teams qualifying for the Fifa World Youth Championship.

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