With the Nigeria senior national football team, Super Eagles, not going to be part of the 2012 African Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, following the 2-2 draw the team played with Syli National of Guinea in the final round of qualifier matches, all eyes are on the Coach Austin Eguavoen led Dream Team V to pick one of the Africa’s tickets for the London 2012 Games when the 8-nation Olympic qualifier get underway today in Morocco.
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Nigeria is in group A with hosts Morocco, Algeria and Senegal. The team will begin their quest to pick a ticket for the 2012 Olympics today when they play against hosts, Morocco in Tangier, under flood lights and it would be a herculean task for Coach Eguavoen who has often times said he is under severe pressure to pick one of the African slots to the London Games.
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Speaking in an exclusive interview with Leadership Weekend Sports before the team’s departure for their training camp in Ghana ahead of the competition,
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Eguavoen admitted that the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify the 2012 African Cup of Nations and the Super Falcons loss to the Lioness of Cameroon in a race to London 2012 Olympics’ women football event, put his team under serious pressure, noting that all eyes and attentions have been shifted on him and the team.
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“All eyes and talks are now directly on me, and if it goes wrong or right, I will be held responsible. So, I wouldn’t say I am not under pressure.
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“This is the only competition remaining now as far as Nigeria is concerned and no one wants to hear excuses anymore because of what happened to the Super Eagles and the women national team. This has put us under a lot of pressure; I am not new to such pressure and I will devise the means of handling it. I have been under a lot of pressure before and I was able to handle it,” he stated.
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Eguavoen will not have all the players he intended to use in Morocco. He will have to do without some of his foreign- based players who have not been released for the tournament. Influential captain, Lukman Haruna and winger Ahmed Musa have been denied permission by their European clubs. Odion Ighalo, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Rabiu Ibrahim, Anthony Ujah and Ekigho Ehiosun will also not be part of the tournament.
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This is the first time Nigerian team would be going for an African competition as underdogs and would have to fight with the last drop of their blood to pull through. A lot of football pundits who have predicted doom for Coach Austin Eguavoen-tutored lads, heaped their prophecy on the fact that the team is in the same group with the host, Morocco, the manner with which the team prepared for the championship and absence of some key players.
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According to sport guru and former member of NFF technical committee, who would not want his name mentioned in print, the team is in a tight corner and insists that the inclusion of Super Eagles’ gaffer, Stephen Keshi among the technical crew may make no difference. “We are in a tight corner and I don’t see Keshi as the Messiah for the team. In fact, NFF should have left Eguavoen and his crew alone, because the inclusion of Keshi in the team would create confusion to the team. “No doubts he is a good coach, but what role is he going to play in Morocco? Is he going to play advisory role or a scout for his own team?” he questioned.
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The veteran football administrator also hinted that the team will need to work hard to avoid being docked by the North African teams. “Also, the team is in difficult situation because they are up against North African teams. Morocco as a host would do everything to exploit their home advantage to the fullest. We are equally in the same group with Algeria, and Morocco is like home to the Algerians. Definitely there will be a gang up by North African teams against us. Going by this factor, we are not a favourite in this competition and I would not be surprise with whatever result that comes out from Morocco,” he stated.
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The top three teams will represent CAF at the Olympic Football Tournament-London 2012. The fourth placed team will contest for a place in a playoff match with an Asian team. Nigeria was the first African side to win gold at the Olympics football event in 1996 and the team also finished runners up at last Olympic held Beijing, China.