By Patrick Omorodion
The woes of Nigeria’s football continued yesterday in Morocco as the national U-23 team got pipped 1-0 by their Moroccan counterpart in the newly created African U-23 Championship.

The competition is also serving as the qualifier for the 2012 London Olympic Games, the only competition left for Nigeria after the Super Eagles and Super Falcons failed to qualify for the 2012 Africa Nations Cup and the London Olympics respectively.

Desperate to pick a ticket for the Olympics and redeem the image of the country, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF virtually emptied into Morocco, taking along some State FA chairmen, claiming they want to provide maximum support for the Austin Eguavoen-tutored side.

The side which showed signs of lack of co-ordination following the quick assemblage of the players after the key players were refused participation by their European clubs, fell to the antics of a Moroccan player who earned a penalty after a soft tackle in the Nigerian box and Abdulaziz Barrada converted the kick on 27 minutes.

The result now puts more pressure on Eguavoen who had admitted so even before kick off saying, “I’m under severe pressure but I have been under pressure before and I’ve been able to deal with it,” as he will face a much more stronger Senegalese team in their second match on Tuesday.

The loss will also be disappointing to the NFF which had promised the team a mouth-watering incentive if they beat the Moroccans and brighten their chances of qualifying for the Olympics. This is so because the Olympics is the only competition the federation is banking on to save face after a series of losses the country’s football teams have recorded since the Aminu Maigari-led Board controversially took over the administration of football following the ouster of the equally controversial Sani Lulu-led Board.

The first three teams in the competition qualify automatically while the fourth team will engage in a play-off with teams from other continents for a fourth ticket.