AT the moment, many football-loving Nigerians cannot conjure up an image of Team Nigeria making hay away in the London without also being hunted by the nation's 'painful absence' from the football event, which begins today with a match between Spain and Japan.Nigeria failed to book a ticket to London, as both the male and female teams were eliminated in the African qualifiers. While the U-23 male team - the Dream Team V - had its Olympics dream shattered in Morocco under coach Austin Eguavoen, the female team (Super Falcons), led by coach Uche Eucharia, was shown the exit door by a Ghanaian youth team.To coach Joy Etim, a member of the technical crew that qualified the Super Falcons to Athens 2004 Olympics, the failure to make the London trip should not be blamed on the players and their coaches, but the 'system.''I won't put the blame on the players and I don't also feel it was the fault of the coaches,' Etim told The Guardian at the draws ceremony of the 2012 talent hunt football competition in Lagos. 'In the past, we used to have time to prepare teams for competitions.'The NFA at that time would send the teams abroad on training tours or engage them in quality friendly games ahead of qualifiers for important championships. But I don't really know what they are doing in the NFF these days.'Most times, we hear coaches complain that they were given just two weeks to prepare teams and I don't think it is appropriate. The system has to change for the players and the coaches to get good results for the country.'In 2004, the Super Falcons, led by coach Ismalia Mabo, with Etim as one of his assistants, was on the verge of losing the ticket to the Athens Olympics. The team, which had the likes of Nkechi Egbe, Ajumai Ameh, Patience Avre and Vera Okolo, laboured to force Ghana to a 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan.That game in Ibadan was Avre's last outing for the country. The return leg in Accra two weeks later also ended 1-1. In the eventual penalty shootout, Falcons' goalie, Precious Dede, made three saves after Ameh and Okolo had missed their kicks. It was one of Dede's best moments ever.With the Ghana Black Queens out of the way, the Falcons pitched against the Banyana Banyana of South Africa in what turned out a major cracker. The Nigerians got a draw in Johannesburg to move a step closer to the Athens Olympics.In the return leg in Abuja, the South Africans forced FIFA to re-schedule the game twice after they raised an alarm over food poisoning that allegedly affected the players. The Falcons eventually won the match 1-0 with Vera Pocket Dynamite Okolo providing the lone goal.Though the team did not get to the medal zone in Athens, millions of Nigerians who watched from home would not forget the memory of the Games. Eight years after, the Nigerian side, which had ruled the African continent for years, has become a spectator in the football event of the Olympics.Except for London 2012, the Falcons had appeared at every Olympics since its first appearance in Sydney 2000. Apart from Etim, many football-loving Nigerians are also of the opinion that the Aminu Maigari-led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should be blamed for Nigeria's absence from the football event of London Olympics.It is on record that Nigeria's football recorded its lowest moments under the Maigari administration. These included the elimination of Daniel Amokachi's home-based Eagles by Niger Republic, WAFU Cup defeat of the Samson Siasia-led Super Eagles in Abeokuta, Super Falcons' elimination by the same Ghana in the qualifiers for the All Africa Games and Super Eagles' non-qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.Apart from the individual gold won by Chioma Ajunwa in the long jump at Atlanta '96 and other records, Nigeria is still being remembered in the Olympics history through the feat recorded by Kanu Nwankwo and his 'gang' at the same Atlanta '96 Games.As the football event of the 2012 London Olympics Games commences today, it is hoped that the NFF will sit back to reflect on its many failures, particularly football's painful absence form Team Nigeria's London show.'It serves them right,' a sports analyst observed yesterday during a sport programme in Lagos. 'By now, the NFF officials with their hangers-on, who in most cases, outnumbered players and coaches, would have landed in London waiting to collect estacodes.
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