By Tony Ubani
The long faces of the U-23 national team players were enough to indicate their misery after firing four goals against the junior Desert Warriors of Algeria in their last group game in Merakech, Morocco.

NFF President, Aminu Maigari promised to pay the each of the players $6,000 if they qualify. After recording the victory, the players asked amongst themselves if ‘Alhaji’ was going to pay them the money.

Another player quipped; “he said “if we qualify. Have you not heard that Senegal beat Morocco 1-0”. Another player agonized: “Yeye Morocco, see how them poor sand for our garri”. Yet another one cried; “they have spoilt our Christmass for us”.

Ordinarily, the victory was enough to elicit celebration but the joker match between Morocco and Senegal was played simultaneously with that of the Eguavoen team.

Nigeria had depended heavily on Morocco to beat Senegal so that once they beat Algeria, they would qualify. The Moroccans had been amazing with their love and support for the Nigerian team. When they lost, the whole country offered their shoulders and mourned with the team. That perhaps made everybody believe that Morocco would beat Senegal.

But a Moroccan official informed me that; “there is no way we would have allowed Nigeria and Algeria to qualify. They have good teams and would have come back to beat us. Everything is possible”.