From Romanus Ugwu and Abraham Hanna, Abuja
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Technical Director, Austin Eguavoen, have apologised to Nigerians over the unimpressive outings of the underage national teams recently.
Speaking separately to Daily Sunsports at the NFF new secretariat at the Package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi and Eguavoen, however claimed that many factors accounted for the performance of the teams including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reacting to the outing, Eguavoen, former Super Eagles captain and coach, said: “I must confess that we are now hanging on faith in the outcome of the game between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. We hope that Cote d’ivoire will come out of their best to take on Ghana, which I know will not be easy. My impression is that it is a blessing in disguise especially as it is a developmental programme.
“There are many factors that can be responsible for the outcome of a team in a tournament. So many things can affect performance. Weather, pitch and even the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t think we have done badly judging by the encomium showered on the team in the media especially for producing the youngest team. We have a good team with good future but everything happens for a reason. This is the time to sit down, work hard to see that we get the desired results in the future.
“There is no big deal if Cote d’Ivoire did not trash Ghana but if it didn’t happen, there is no big deal and I am not particularly worried that we did not make it because we have a team for the future.
“We are the NFF are more concerned than other Nigerians as the custodian of football in Nigeria and we apologise for the but what happened is a wake up call for everybody especially the technical department.
“The current NFF is desirous to succeed but we should not wish away those factors that could make a team not to succeed. We have a team with bright future. We have already put in place measures to ensure that we utilize these boys in the underage team. We will open database for them for future tournaments,” he said.
“We are the NFF are more concerned than other Nigerians as the custodian of football in Nigeria and we apologise for the but what happened is a wake up call for everybody especially the technical department.
“The current NFF is desirous to succeed but we should not wish away those factors that could make a team not to succeed. We have a team with bright future. We have already put in place measures to ensure that we utilize these boys in the underage team. We will open database for them for future tournaments,” he said.