Paris 2024: Yusuf confident Olympic Eagles will scale Guinea hurdle

 

 

Twenty-four hours before his wards are due to take on Guinea’s Olympic squad in a final qualifying fixture, first leg duel at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Head Coach Salisu Yusuf said his Nigeria U23 boys are very much up to the task of grabbing one of the tickets to this year’s Africa U23 Cup of Nations in Morocco.

 

“I am satisfied that we have been able to work hard these past days and are now set for action. The players know that reaching the Africa Cup of Nations presents them a tremendous opportunity to fight hard for a ticket to the Olympics, which is a global tournament.

 

“We have invited a number of players from overseas that we believe can help us stake a very strong claim to the ticket, and we will be aiming for a good win on Wednesday. The second leg is on neutral ground, but we don’t want to entertain that in our minds. We have the objective of working assiduously to wrap up things in this first leg.”

 

Guinea’s U23 squad had their official training at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Saturday evening, hours before the Olympic Eagles took to the same pitch for their final workout ahead of the encounter.

 

Nigeria have won all the available medals in the Men's Olympic Football Tournament, taking the gold in Atlanta, USA in 1996 and the silver medal in Beijing, China in 2008. Eight years later, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the squad led by John Mikel Obi won the bronze.

 

The return leg of the Nigeria/Guinea has been scheduled for the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan starting from 7pm Morocco time (8pm Nigeria time) on Tuesday, 28th March.

 

For Wednesday’s encounter in Abuja, CAF has appointed Sabri Mohamed Fadul from Sudan as referee. His compatriots Abdelgabar Mohamed Abdelgabar and Ahmed Subahi will serve as assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively, while Ring Akech Malong from South Sudan will work as fourth official.

 

Munkaila Nassam Adam from Ghana will be the match commissioner.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CHAN Eagles Qualification Has Raised Our Hope- Ahlan

Image
The victory of Nigeria's home based Super Eagles over Benin Republic's squirrels last Saturday has been described as one that raises hope for the nearest future by chairman Kano State FA  Rabiu Sherrif Inuwa Ahlan. Ahlan speaking through his media aide Abiola Shodiya congratulates Nigerians, thanks Kano State government and reserved special praises for the media in what he described as overwhelming support. "Congratulations all Nigerians on our qualification. I believe our victory was one that raises hope for the nearest future. The victory by the Super Eagles is a sign of greater things to happen to Nigeria football as we head into the world cup qualifying battle with our rivals." "We've all now seen that the can do spirit of we Nigerians is still there. Perhaps we had not really challenged ourselves before now. The team showed raw skills and commitment towards achieving the task, which we all are now happy with the end result. I thank the Kano S...
Read more

FOR THE RECORDS RE: NIGERIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION (NFF) DENIES ALLEGED CHARGES BY FG

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) notes that it has been inundated with enquiries about charges allegedly filed against its leadership (Amaju Melvin Pinnick, Seyi Akinwunmi, Shehu Dikko, Ahmed Fresh and Mohammed Sanusi) by the Federal Government of Nigeria. NFF denies that FG has filed any such charges. NFF states that the orchestrated media blitz about the existence of such charges is nothing but the desperate and malicious efforts of the Chief Okoi Obono-Obla led Special Presidential Investigative Panel (SPIP) to lend itself as an instrument of cheap blackmail in the fight for the political leadership of NFF. Currently pending before the Federal High Court, Abuja is Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/17/2019 filed by NFF against SPIP and 3 others, including Chief Obono-Obla himself. NFF in the suit is challenging the competence of SPIP under the law to purport to investigate or prosecute NFF or its leadership. When the matter came up for hearing on April 20, 2019, Barrister Celsus Ukpong, th...
Read more

New Discovery Alert: Nigerian forward Hafizu sets to dominate Mauritania League

Image
  Nigerian forward Mohammed Hafizu has set his target to dominate Mauritania League and paint the League with goals.   Hafizu, who plays for Mauritania side Jahe El Mina, has set a personal target to score 10 goals for his club this season.   The 23-year-old featured played Youth Football at Nura SK and Aljazira Football Academy in Nigeria.   “I want to have a great season with great performance and score goals, I am also hopeful to go injury-free. My target is to score 10 goals this season, and I will work harder to achieve that. The forward revealed his ambition for Nigeria, his favourite club and role models.   “Every great player want to part of the Super Eagles. If the chance comes I will grab it with both hands. Growing up I have always loved to play for Enyimba.   Hafizu revealed Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa and legendary Samuel Eto’o has his mentor; “Musa and Eto’o are players I have always looked up to. They inspired me as a ...
Read more