Olympic qualifiers: Nigeria’ll triumph over Morocco – Emordi

By KATE OBODO
As the national U-23 team get set for the opening game of the 2012 London Olympic qualifiers in Tangier against Morocco today, former Enyimba coach, Okey Emordi has urged Nigerians to pray for the team to soar in Morocco.

Speaking in Aba during the week, having tended his resignation letter to the club chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, Emordi told Saturday Vanguard Sports that the team have gone through a lot of challenges in trying to get the best for the country and need prayers from Nigerians to succeed in today’s tie.

According to him,“I believe the team will triumph over Morocco. As far as I am concerned, all things being equal, God will lead them through. Let me tell you, when a team default everybody blames the coach. Despite all the logistics and motivation given to the team, nobody knows what really happened along the line. The coach keeps managing the problems until when he can no longer manage it again. Once there is failure, the people at the helm of affairs wage war against the coach.

Continuing he said, “I think it is high time everybody became proactive and mature. The question we should be asking is, are the management or people at the helm of affairs doing their job? Look at the national teams that failed with the exception of the Dream Team V, if anything happens today, it’s the coach that will get the knock and go the same way with Samson Siasia and Eucharia Uche. Our hope now, is Austin Eguavoen. I pray that the Almighty God helps him to achieve his mission in Morocco otherwise the reverse will be the case” he said.

When asked if the absence of foreign-based players who were not released by their clubs would affect the team’s performance in Morocco, Emordi objected, saying “ I do not agree that their absence will affect the team. All I want to say is that, we need prayers to support them. Because, if the team fail, it will definitely affect all of us,” he concluded.