U23 AFCON: Nigeria’s Amapakabo Picks Nwakali, Awoniyi, 19 Others For Title Defence

Head Coach Imama Amapakabo has named team captain Azubuike Okechukwu, defenders Anthony Izuchukwu, Sincere Seth and Olisah Ndah, midfielders Kelechi Nwakali, Muyiwa Olabiran and Ndifreke Effiong, and forwards Taiwo Awoniyi and Orji Okwonkwo in his final list of 21 players to defend the U23 Africa Cup of Nations title in Egypt next month.

Nigeria, champions of the second edition of the competition in Senegal four years ago, will seek to retain their title when the third edition of the championship flags off in Cairo on 8th November.

The Olympic Eagles are housed in Group B and will contend with Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa in that order at the Al Salam Stadium. Hosts Egypt head Group A that also has Ghana, Cameroon and Mali with matches to hold at the Cairo International Stadium.

Nigeria’s first match of the campaign is against Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday, 9th November.

The top three teams at the eight –nation finals will qualify to represent Africa in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Amapakabo also picked goalkeeper Adamu Abubakar, defender Josiah Chukwudi, and lively attacking midfielders Ndifreke Effiong, Tom Dele-Bashiru and Sunusi Ibrahim.

Nigeria Olympic Football Team
photo credit: @thenff

21 OLYMPIC EAGLES FOR U23 AFCON TITLE DEFENCE IN EGYPT

Goalkeepers: Adamu Abubakar (Wikki Tourists); Mohammed Galadima (Nasarawa United); Kingdom Osayi (Giant Brillers)

Defenders: Olisah Ndah (Remo Stars); Samuel Atavti (Esperance FC, Tunisia); Valentine Ozornwafor (UD Almeria, Spain); Sincere Seth (Boluspor FC, Turkey); Josiah Chukwudi (Spartak Tranava, Slovakia); Anthony Izuchukwu (Nest Sotra, Norway); Bitok Stephen (FC Isloch, Belarus)

Imama Amapakabo
photo credit: Sammy Wejinya

Midfielders: Sunusi Ibrahim (Nasarawa United); Aliyu Yau Adam (Spartak Jurmala, Latvia); Muyiwa Olabiran (Tambov FC, Russia); Kelechi Nwakali (FC Huesca, Spain); Ndifreke Effiong (Akwa United); Sunday Faleye (Wacker FC, Austria); Tom Dele-Bashiru (Watford FC, England); Azubuike Okechukwu (Basaksehir FC, Turkey)

Forwards: Orji Okwonkwo (Bologna FC, Italy); Taiwo Awoniyi (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); Bright Enobakhare (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)

U23 AFCON: Olympic Eagles up against Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa

Cup holders Nigeria will battle Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa at the group stage of the 3rd U23 Africa Cup of Nations taking place in Egypt next month, following the draw held in Alexandria on Wednesday night. All Group B matches will hold at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo – one of the venues for last summer’s 32nd Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Host nation Egypt will be up against Ghana, Cameroon and Mali in a hard-as-nails Group A with matches at the Cairo International Stadium.

A simple but elegant ceremony, with the Montaza Palace at the foreground and the Mediterranean Sea at the background, and rocked by occasional interventions of firecrackers over the sea, was compered by former Egyptian international Ahmed Hosny (now a movie star) and model Lama Gebreil.

Egypt’s Minister for Youth and Sports, Dr. Ashraf Sobhy; CAF Executive Committee Member Ahmed Yahya; Members of the Normalization Committee of the Egyptian FA; Members of the local organizing committee for the U23 AFCON; Egyptian legends Mohamed Barakat and Ahmed Fathi and; representatives of the qualified nations witnessed the event in the 127 –year old Montaza grounds, built by King Farouk, before Gamal Abdel Nasser led a revolution that overthrew the monarchy in 1952 and established constitutional rule.

The draw was conducted by CAF’s Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu who kept it simple yet sophisticated, and former Egyptian international Emad Meteab.

Cup holders Nigeria will play their first game against Cote d’Ivoire, before further matches against Zambia and South Africa in the group stage. Only the top three teams at the tournament will qualify to represent Africa at the men’s football tournament of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Nigeria Olympic Football Team
photo credit: @thenff

Coach of South Africa, David Notone, told thenff.com: “The truth is that whatever group you fall into would always be tough. We have eight very strong teams here and any team could have fallen anywhere, except Egypt and Nigeria that headed the groups.

“I call Group B a pool of derbies, with two West African teams and two Southern African teams. Group A is the pool of death, no doubt about it. It is going to be fight-to-finish in both groups.”

Former Ghanaian international midfielder Ibrahim Tanko, who is coach of Ghana and whose team shocked bookmakers by defeating Algeria away after both teams drew 1-1 in Ghana in the final qualifying round, said: “Everyone is saying it is tough, but I think it is impressive. This simply means that you have to prepare very hard, play each match like the final and take your chances.

“Any team having illusions of recovering after a false start will be sorely disappointed. I think we are going to have tough, spectacular games all the way in the tournament.”

U23 AFCON Qualifier: Olympic Eagles Lose 0-1 To Sudan

Cup holders Nigeria on Thursday lost by the odd goal to their Sudanese counterparts in an U23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match at the Al Merriekh Stadium in Omdurman.

The home team scored on the dot of 45 minutes as the Nigeria defence faltered from a counter attack, although Stephen Odey, Blessing Muyiwa and Taiwo Awoniyi all had chances to put Nigeria on the scoreline even before then.

Odey fluffed gilt-edged opportunities in the 17th and 48th minutes that would have handed Nigeria the advantage. Instead, the 1996 Olympics men’s football tournament winners must overturn a deficit and then look for the winner when both teams clash in the return and final leg of the qualifying series in Asaba on Tuesday.

Nigeria Olympic Football Team
photo credit: @thenff

The deficit is in no way daunting for the Imama Amapakabo wards, who in the earlier round, hammered Libya 4-0 at the same Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba after losing 0-2 to the Libyans in the first leg in Tunisia.

Nigeria won the second edition of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Senegal in December 2015, beating Algeria in the final, and both teams then represented Africa at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where the Olympic Eagles won the bronze medals.

The third edition of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations will be staged by Egypt 8th – 22nd November this year.

Ejidike, Ikpea, Olanlege Others Hail Super Eagles and Olympic Eagles

It was a weekend of fun and exhilarating football in Asaba, Delta state, as the Super Eagles and the U-23 national team brought joy and smiles to the faces of millions of Nigerians with resounding victories over their opponents.

Super Eagles during the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup match between Croatia v Nigeria on the 16th June 2018 at Kaliningrad Stadium,Russia

Beginning on Friday at the magnificent Stephen Keshi stadium, Asaba, when the Super Eagles trashed Seychelles 3-1 to officially seal its qualification to the AFCON championship, and to the impressive performance of the Imama Amapakabo tutored U-23 team who annihilated hapless Libya 4-0 to move into the final qualification round of the AFCON U-23 championship. The festival of football was rounded up with Super Eagles claiming another victory in an international friendly game over Egypt.

And the victories of the national teams had prominent Nigerian football tournament stakeholders waxing lyrically about the performances and potentials of the teams.
In a chat with journalists, Nigeria’s Pillar Of Sports, Chief Donatus Agu-Ejidike, JP, praised the teams for their performances, which he described as inspiring.

“I must say,the performances of the teams were inspiring and a good sign of better days for our football. I would therefore advise the technical crews and players of the teams to keep working hard and not rest on their oars,” the renowned sports philanthropist said.

Nigeria Olympic Football Team
photo credit: @thenff

Bayo Olanlege, on his part, noted that the victories recorded by the teams were testimonies of the immense and richly blessed talents in Nigerian football. Adding that
with better preparations, the teams would achieve greater things and make Nigerians proud.

“I am not really surprised over the performances of these teams. We are richly blessed with fantastic football talents home and diaspora,” Olanlege, a board member of Ekiti FA enthused.

In the same vein, the national chairman of the acclaimed 12th player of the various Nigerian national teams,the Nigeria football supporters club, Rev. Samuel Ikpea, noted that the performances of the teams would continue to encourage members of the NFSC home and diaspora to support Nigerian teams all the times.

Akeem Busari