Nigeria failed to make it to the U23 Africa Cup of Nations after losing 0-2 on aggregate to Guinea, who were able to hold Nigeria to a 0-0 draw in Abuja before getting the job done in the second leg played at their adopted home ground in Morocco.
Led by coach Salisu Yusuf, the team paraded some of the worst players Nigeria have ever used at this level, where they were the first African team to win gold in football at the Olympics with the win in 1996 at the Atlanta games.
Although, they still stand a chance of progressing on technical grounds with Guinea accused of fielding as many as six overaged players in the games against Nigeria. If found guilty they will be kicked out of the tournament.
Looking back at their campaign in the qualifiers, one of the foreign based players in the team laid the blame on the two coaches of the team in Salisu Yusuf and his assistant Kennedy Boboye. He said both coaches are poor tacticians.
” For me who plays in Europe and know how we prepare for games. It was shocking that we approached this game like a friendly game, no specific instructions on how to play. We were just selected to play and win like that. It was chaos. The moment the coach made two substitutions after 30 minutes. We knew we are in trouble. I have never seen coaches like that. I repeat “, he rounded up saying.
Mohammed Mowiz
