Ex-international, Mutiu Adepoju is lamenting over Nigeria’s Under-23 men’s failure to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
The Olympic gold medalist from 1996 conveyed his unhappiness with the outcome and recommended that the Nigeria Professional Football League pay close attention to prevent repeated disappointment.
Salisu Yusuf’s team could only manage a scoreless draw with the Guineans at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja during the first leg of the playoffs, and they were aware that they would need a victory there in order to advance to the 2024 Paris Olympics and the fifth edition of the continental tournament.
However, the Dream Team VII struggled in Rabat and lost to their West African neighbours with a score of 2-0.
Adepoju then expressed his dissatisfaction to Channels Television over the Nigerian team’s failure to attend the Olympics’ male football competition for the second time in a row.
“Well, I think it is very sad. Nobody is happy about that. But, I think this is the more reason we should take care of our league.” he said.
He continued by saying that the Nigerian league should strive to overcome its obstacles in order to become more competitive.
The 52-year-old added: “We have to take care of our league and the clubs too. I will always say we have to be up and doing and be more professional because the U-23 is practically from the league,
“If we have the league running – it is not that our players are not good – but we are not able to beat teams that we used to beat before, I think we just need to do something.”
The Olympic Eagles competed four times in the Olympics, winning gold in 1996, silver in 2008, and bronze in 2016.