The U-23 team face a daunting task qualifying for this year’s Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Morocco, which serves as the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifiers, The PUNCH reports.
The fixture is billed to hold at the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan on Tuesday (today).
Nigeria’s U-23 boys failed to take advantage at home after they were held to a goalless draw by Guinea in the first-leg match at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja last Wednesday.
Despite missing several scoring chances in the first leg, coach Salisu Yusuf remains confident his boys are very much up to the task of qualifying for this year’s tournament.
“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,” Salisu said ahead of the game.
“We believe they can help us stake a very strong claim to the ticket, and we will be aiming for a good win. 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.”
The U-23 will be without defender Christopher Nwaeze after he was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first leg in Abuja.
Nigeria have won all the available medals in the men’s Olympic football event, taking the gold in Atlanta, USA in 1996, silver medal in Beijing, China in 2008 and bronze eight years later, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Meanwhile, Egypt have become the second team to qualify for the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations after holding Zambia to a goalless draw at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
The Young Pharaohs join hosts Morocco in this year’s tournament, with a 2-0 victory on aggregate.
The Egyptians had won the first leg in their backyard 2-0 and it is that result that sailed them through against a hard-fighting Zambian side.
