Top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation have admitted that the under-23 side let Nigerians down during their game against Ghana’s Black Meteors in Sunday’s 2011 All Africa games qualifier in Kumasi, Ghana.

The Coach Augustine Eguavoen trained side were eliminated from the quadrennial game following the 2-0 defeat in the hands of the Ghanaians. Fortnight ago in Benin City, the Nigerians defeated their fellow West African foes 3-1 but still lost out of the AAG race due to the away goal rule.

Clearly disappointed by the outcome of the encounter many Nigerians had expected outright revenge of Super Falcons’ ouster from the AAG by the Ghanaian women, Green told SuperSport.com that the coach Austin Eguavoen tutored side did not rise to the occasion even though their hosts did everything to kill their morale.

Speaking on the team’s performance, President of the NFF, Aminu Maigari and Technical Committee chairman, Barrister Chris Green said that they team played poorly.

“They let Nigerians down with their performance. Nigerians deserved something better than that. It is over to them but that is not the end of the road”, said Maigari.

Also speaking, Green said that “our boys did not raise their game when it mattered most. They knew just as we know that the game would be tough, we expected them to put up strong resistance but it was not to be. We are out of the men’s event same as the women’s, no thanks to the Ghanaians.”

Green informed that now the AAG race is ended attention will be shifted towards qualifying both teams for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

“We will shift our attentions to the Olympics and ensure that both teams qualify for the games, we cannot afford not to play in the Olympics.

“We will continue to do our best to support the teams’ in their preparations, and render other assistance necessary to help them succeed,” he said.