28th November, 2011
After falling 0-1 to Morocco in their first game of the London Olympic Games African qualifying tournament on Saturday, Nigeria’s U-23 Eagles have vowed to bounce back when they take on Senegal tomorrow night.
A victory for the Coach Austin Eguavoen led team against the Senegalese team would brighten their chances in the qualifying tournament meant to pick three slots for Africa to play in the football event of the Olympic Games next year.
Stand in captain of U-23 Eagles, Kingsley Udoh told Nigerians that the team will bounce back against Senegal. Udoh, who was ruled out of tomorrow’s tie, admitted that the team disappointed Nigerians in their opening match against Morocco, but they are now in high spirits to take Senegal to the cleaners.
“We did not play very well in the opening match against the hosts. I want to assure Nigerians that we have put the defeat behind us. The players have vowed to go for victory in our second match because anything short of victory will be a disappointment and a disaster for us,†he said.
Udoh said his absence in the next game will not affect the team’s spirit and urged Nigerians to continue praying for them.
Meawhile, Eguavoen has said that his team deserved to come away with nothing from their match against Morocco. The coach confirmed yesterday that his Nigerian U-23 team deserved their 1-0 loss to Morocco.
‘’We didn’t do enough and the boys started off rather nervously,’’ Eguavoen told cafonline.com
The Nigerian coach added that his team will now turn their focus to the next game against Senegal tomorrow, which they need a win from to keep alive their hopes of qualification for next summer’s Games.
“For now we will put this game behind us and focus on the next game. There is every possibility that we can still meet Morocco again in the final of this championship,” Eguavoen added.
Super Eagles striker Daniel Uchechi shares his coach’s opinion over the importance of Nigeria’s two remaining matches.
“We know we can play better and taking one game at a time we will go back and look at the game again to see where we went wrong today and correct that for the next game. This game is gone now and we have to look forward to the next match,†said Uchechi.
— Sunday Akintoye