EGUAVOEN WALKS..... LONDON OLYMPIC DREAM ENDS IN TEARS IN MOROCCO |
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Written by Tunde Adelakun
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Nigeria’s Under-23 team coach Austin Eguavoen took full responsibility for the team’s failure to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic games, and paid for it with his job. Late on Saturday, Eguavoen tendered his resignation to the Nigeria Football Federation claiming that he failed to fulfil the obligation he had to his employers by qualifying for the Olympiad and leaving his job as a result.
Eguavoen’s resignation has still not been formally acknowledged by the NFF but if it is accepted, it will be the third major departure from national team duties in recent times for Nigerian coaches. Samson Siasia and female coach Uche Eucharia had earlier paid for non-qualification for major tournaments with their jobs in the last couple of months.
Nigeria was being hailed in Morocco as the best team of the tournament by CAF chiefs, after an almost flawless performance in trouncing Algeria 4-1 in their final group game, but all this was in vain as they had earlier lost their first two matches to Morocco and Senegal.
Eguavoen praised the support accorded him and the team throughout the ten month period that they had been camped, especially by the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation and said “I had no excuse whatsoever for not having done well and I feel I have let the country down”, he said. |