The Nigeria U23 football team failed to make it to the U23 Africa Cup of Nations holding next year after losing 0-2 away to Guinea at a neutral ground in Morocco. The loss meant they miss out on a ticket to the AFCON on a 0-2 aggregate score.
Led by Salisu Yusuf and Kennedy Boboye, the duo called up some of the worst players to have ever played for Nigeria at this level and it didn’t just start from the game against Guinea. It is something that started from the first day at their camp in Ibadan.
One of the players who was at the camp of the team when they took on Tanzania was on loan Arsenal midfielder Tim Akinola. He was in the camp of the team before the second leg of the first round tie against Tanzania.
However, he failed to make the team for the game and even left before the day of the match. A situation which one of his representatives said was due to his reluctance to part way with some amount of money demanded from him by the backroom staff of the team.
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” I must say none of the coaches approached me directly for money but a part of the backroom team came to me explaining what the coaches are facing in terms of getting paid by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He explained that it’s from the little that agents give them that they take home to their family”, he told OGN.
” Back then he said Salisu hasn’t been paid for 18 months and his assistants Boboye hasn’t had a job for almost two years. So anything we can give will go a long way. I didn’t decline but it’s a very sad situation to be in. I only said at the moment I am not that buoyant financially to help but I will talk to his main representative. I was only there as a guide.
” Two days after he asked me again and this time around he even proposed I ask Tim directly. Which I said no. It was from that day that the coaches started acting funny and he left”, he touched up his explanation on the midfielder who is having a taste of first team football at Chesterfield.
Mohammed Mowiz
