Olympic Eagles in last chance salon in Rabat: Olympic Eagles in last chance salon in Rabat
The journey looks arduous. Nigeria has not been to the Olympic Games since it won the bronze medal at the 2016 edition of the global fiesta. Now, it faces the prospect of missing the next edition of the competition. That is, if the Olympic Eagles fail to beat Guinea in their Morocco 2023 African U-23 Cup of Nations qualifier today in the North African country.
Nigeria barely survived a better-trained Guinean side in the first leg of the qualifier in Abuja last week and need an improved performance to survive the sleek boys from Titi Camara’s country.
Olympic Eagles head Coach, Salisu Yusuf, says there is no cause fore alarm.
Yusuf, who disagrees with those who see the first leg result as bad for his team, says his boys are better prepared for the return leg and would give Nigerians reason to celebrate after 90 minutes.
The team will be without Christopher Nwaeze, who was sent off towards the end of the first leg, but Yusuf assures that he has the quality and depth to plug all holes in the side.
He said shortly before leaving for Morocco: “We have a positive mindset to go there (Morocco) and win. It is football, when you do the right thing, you will get the opportunity to score; you can score and you can win, even away from home.
“The most important thing is that we did not lose here because they had two shots on goal, which were very critical, but thank God the defenders reacted very quickly to it.
“But I am very positive and still believe that we can still qualify if we work extra hard,” Yusuf said.
Yusuf blamed the little time he had to train with his boys for the failure to win in Abuja last week, adding that the days they had to work after the first leg have given them opportunity to blend better.
“We did not train together much, because we initially trained with the home (based) team, but when the Foreign-based came, we needed to mix.
“If you observed, there were five home-based and six foreign-based in the first half, but you see, that is another factor because there was no cohesion, but I think the two days will allow us to work there, they’re intelligent players. We’ll work on the tactics and strategies and we will see what happens in Morocco.”
While the Olympic Eagles are battling with blending the home-based stars with their overseas-based colleagues, Guinea has no such problem.
As he did in the first leg, Guinea’s U-23 Head Coach, Morlaye Cisse, is working with a group comprising mainly local lads.
He currently has 21 players from the local league in camp for the game against the Olympic Eagles.
“The objective is to have a solid base from Conakry with a team of 22 even 25 or 30 players and at any time we can rely on these players,” he told Africsport.
“We got a good result in Nigeria and we have opportunity to seal the ticket in our home leg. The game is on our hands and we will not allow it slip away,” he said.
The winner in Morocco will qualify for the U-23 AFCON, which will be hosted by Morocco in November 2023.
A score draw will be enough for Nigeria, while a goalless draw will take the game to a penalty shoot out.
