Nigeria’s under-23 national team, Olympic Eagles stepped up their drills in Asaba, Delta State on Sunday, just few hours after their delayed return from Khartoum to Abuja, where they stayed for two days, before relocating to ‘The Big Heart,’ ahead of Tuesday’s reverse fixture of their African championship qualifier against Sudan.
With the Nigerian squad trailing for a 1-0 loss in Thursday’s first leg, Olympic Eagles’ coach, Imama Amapakabo admitted they cannot afford to relax, as he seeks to overturn the deficit and ensure his side qualify for this year’s Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.
Megasportsarena.com reports that a goal at the end of the first half by Walla Edin Musa condemned the Cup holders to defeat at Al Merriekh Stadium on Thursday night, but the Nigerians fought hard and created several chances of their own in the encounter.
Amapakabo’s side flew into Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Friday afternoon and quickly returned to drills the following day in the Federal Capital Territory, where they then stayed for two days before heading to Asaba on Sunday, top commence the last phase of their preparations for Tuesday’s make-or-break final qualifying clash against Sudan.
The former youth international goalkeeper, who has coached Rangers of Enugu and El-Kanemi Warriors in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), charges had their first feel of Stephen Keshi Stadium on Sunday morning, after which they were scheduled to train there again in the evening and twice on Monday.
The AFCON U23 cup holders have now welcomed to camp Kelechi Nwakali, who missed the first leg, and Amapakabo is happy to have the Chile 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup-winning captain in camp to strengthen his midfield for Tuesday’s battle.
The Eagles will hope to pull off a repeat of the feat they had when they overturned a two goal deficit against Libya in the earlier round, winning 4-0 at the same venue, as Ampakabo says his players are confident of erasing the one goal deficit from Omdurman and soaring over Sudan to the third edition of the competition, which holds in Egypt from 8th to 22nd November.
In Egypt, Amapakabo will hope his side ends up as one of the two finalists that will fly Africa’s flag at the next year’s men’s football tournament of the Tokyo Olympics, with memories of how Nigeria won gold at Atlanta ’96, silver at Beijing 2008 and bronze at Rio 2016.
Amapakabo’s boys received a boost to their morale when Nigeria’s ambassador to Sudan, Musa Mamman praised players and officials after Thursday’s loss, as the envoy insisted the squad put in an impressive outing against their Sudanese hosts in Omdurman.
Speaking during a visit to the team, Ambassador Mamman lifted the players’ spirit with his use of kind words, as he picked positives from their first leg performance, saying though they lost the encounter by a lone goal, they fought hard and were certainly not disgraced.
Mamman stressed with well chosen words: “I am here to convey to you the goodwill message of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR). Even though we lost, we played a very good game and I have confidence in our ability to overturn the deficit and win by a clear margin in the return leg next week.
“You have the ability and the capacity to qualify for the championship. I urge you to be firm and resolute as you look forward to the second leg because about 200 million Nigerians are behind you in this campaign.”
