By Victor Kanayo
As the final qualifier days to U23 Africa Cup of Nations draws nearer, the Nigerian team have stepped up training in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Heritage Times HT reports the Nigerian U23 team will face their Guinean counterparts on March 22 in the first leg encounter inside the prestigious Moshood Abiola Stadium Abuja, before heading to Morocco for the second leg clash five days later.
From Ibadan where the team had set up their camp, they moved to Abuja earlier in the week, where they are perfecting their tactics.
Shortly after their training on Friday March 10, 2023, Nigeria’s U23 handler, Salisu Yusuf hinted that the squad will be fortified with the presence of foreign-based players.
He said, “We have 30 players in camp already. And if you look at them, they are all NPFL players who came from various club sides. So, we want to see what we can add to the team to have a balance.
“We still we have room for some foreign professionals because the other African teams have professionals too.
“Also, we still have other players who did very well in the last game. We want to find where we can find a balance for all these players and take out 23 out of this pool of players.
“I think it’s a good thing that the league is on, we can see the players, we only want to play and teach them how we want them to play our tactics, strategy, our patterns and our style which is different from the club side that’s what we are doing.”
Nigeria is pushing for a return to the Olympic Games with a focus to grab the football ticket to 2024 Paris games.
To reach this stage of the series, the 1996 champions defeated the Tanzania U23 team 3-1 on aggregate in October 2022, winning 2-0 at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan after both teams stalemated the first leg in Dar es Salaam at 1-1.
The winner over two legs between Nigeria and Guinea will advance to the finals of the Africa U23 Cup of Nations scheduled to be hosted by Morocco later in the year.
It is also at the tournament in Morocco that Africa’s flag bearers at next year’s Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Paris will emerge.
