MANY Nigerian football followers have already given up on them following the confusion that has characterized their preparation for the first African Under-23 Championship, which begins next week in Morocco. But these Olympic Eagles are not bothered by the predictions of doom.In fact, they believe the Morocco 2011 CAF Under-23 Championship would be the turning point Nigerian football have been waiting for following the spate of failures that has dogged the country in recent times.Coach Austin Eguavoen built his team around some Europe-based players, but because their clubs refused to release the stars for the African championship, the gaffer has been forced to hurriedly assemble a team of home-based players for the competition, which will serve as the qualifier for the London 2012 Olympic Games.The first three teams in Morocco will qualify automatically for London 2012, while the fourth team out of the eight countries will face off with an Asian team for the Olympics ticket.The Under-23 team, which went to Ghana for the last lap of its preparation for the competition, returned to Nigeria on Wednesday and has since been training at the National Stadium, Lagos.Speaking on his team's determination to win an Olympics ticket, midfielder Ayo Saka, told The Guardian yesterday that everything would be 'fine when we hit Morocco next week.'We have worked hard since we went to camp and I believe we can do well in Morocco.'The problem of non-release of Europe-based players is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, and the good thing about our case is that we have always worked hard in training even without the foreign stars.Saka acknowledges that the other countries would come to the competition to fight with all their might, adding, however, that the spirit in the Nigerian camp is such that the team can surmount any obstacle.Enyimba's Emmanuel Anyanwu, who is expected to play a prominent for Nigeria in Morocco, acknowledges, 'there is much pressure on us because this is the only hope for Nigeria internationally. But I believe by the special grace of God, we won't let Nigerians down.'We cannot afford to fail because that would mean that in 2011 Nigeria could not qualify for any international competition. That will not happen.
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