Nigeria will have to build a new team for this year’s FIFA U17World Cup after a fresh MRI scan disqualified several of the top stars.It has been uncovered that no less than six of the players who featured for the Eaglets at the 2013 African U17 Championship in Morocco in April have been ruled out of the World Cup in the UAE in October going by the latest round of MRI tests. MRI means Magnetic Resonance Imaging. An MRI scanner is a device in which the patient lies within a large, powerful magnet where the magnetic field is used to align the magnetization of some atomic nuclei in the body, and radio frequency magnetic fields are applied to systematically alter the alignment of this magnetization.This process can't tell the actual age of players but it can tell if the footballers in question are older than the range of a particular under age competition e.g. U-17,U-20 and U-23.Meaning if a particular player is supposed to be U-17 and he's older than the age grade,MRI can say if the player is over the required age although the system has its flaws because some over aged players have passed the test.Some of the affected players have already been decamped by the team and proposed test matches against UAE and Turkey may now have to be cancelled as a result of the confusion in the team.It is understood that world football governing body FIFA accept grade 1-5, which equates to about 17.21 years.
Of the 30 players tested officially, eight did not make the mark, while six of the 17 players who were self-sponsored were ruled out.The Eaglets are currently training in Calabar ahead of the U17 World Cup, which will be played between October 17 and November 8.The draw for the tournament will be staged in Abu Dhabi on August 26. Lol,naija I hail.