Nigeria U-23 Eagles suffered a 2-0 defeat to Guinea in the second leg of their 2023 Africa U23 Cup of Nations qualifier on Tuesday.
The Olympic Eagles failed to break the defence of the Guineans as they were held to a goalless draw by the visitors in the first leg at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Wednesday last week.
In the return leg in Morocco, the Nigerians hope Salisu Yusuf’s hurriedly assembled side take some advantage, were walking a tightrope, playing on a neutral venue but the encounter didn’t end as anticipated for the Olympic Eagles.
After a drab draw in the first half, the Guineans scored two second half goals from Algassime Bah and Alseny Soumah for the young National Elephants. The result saw Guineans claimed a 2-0 aggregate score and qualified for the U23 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s dream of making an appearance at the Football event of the 2024 Olympics in Paris after coming short of making this year’s U23 Africa Cup of Nations and this development marks a back-to-back absence from the global sporting showpiece.
Nigeria, the winners of the 1996 football tournament of the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA missed the last edition of the tournament in 2020. The team had won bronze in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro when the team was captained by former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel.
The CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations will hold in Morocco this June with the top three ranked countries representing Africa in Paris 2024.
