The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has revealed plans to halt the current decline into consistent failure being experienced by Nigeria Football following the surprising ouster of the Olympic Eagles from the ongoing U23 African Cup of Nations championship in Egypt.
Holders Nigeria couldn’t make it past the group stages of the AFCON tournament after securing a 0-0 draw with South Africa on Friday night. Coach Imama Amapakabo’s boys needed an outright victory to leap frog the Amagluglug into the semifinals of the tournament.
This recent setback means that Nigeria will not be represented at the male and female football event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Falcons were also knocked out of the race for the Olympic Games by Ivory Coast a few weeks ago.
A disappointed Dare has, however, identified the need to return to the basics to develop a ‘long term plan for football development’ in the country in order to arrest this ugly decay.
“Nigeria’s game against South Africa, which ended in a draw, concentrates the mind. Time to take a look back and find out where the rain began to beat us. Like I said before, our football needs a return to the basics of grassroots football, pristine sports admin, sound technical coaching…,” the minister tweeted early yesterday morning.