Sports
Eguavoen Flays Moroccan Officials Over Attitude OnTraining
Austin Eguavoen has been left livid by the antics of Morocco officials, who denied his Olympic team training opportunities on Tuesday.
The Nigeria squad were due to train at the facility of clubside Raja, but were prevented by club officials, who claimed to be acting on the directives of the football federation.
“You cannot train here today, it’s not allowed. Our teams want to use both pitches, sorry my friends, sorry, am only following directives from the football federation. I don’t want to lose my job,” said one of the three officials of Raja Club Athletics as they ushered the Olympic Eagles out of the Raja Astro turf.
The same officials had on Monday denied the team access to the natural grass pitch despite an initial agreement that the team would only be allowed to use the pitch on the said time.
Eguavoen was miffed, albeit philosophical.
“What can we do? There is nothing we can do about it. Again I would say in the Moroccan part, they are not being friendly.
“Their action is not sportsman like; the Nigeria Football Federation had an agreement with them that everything was going to be available.
“But getting here, there is nothing available, we can’t get a pitch to train, its synthetic and that’s counter productive. And to my greatest surprise, its cold, windy and rainy here and we are training with T-shirts, that’s very dangerous,” Eguavoen lamented.
He however urged Nigerians to keep praying for the team; assuring that the team will do its best to pick an Olympic ticket.
Meanwhile, the wintry kit of the team has arrived at the Anfa Port Hotel, camp.
Vice president of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC), Chief Solomon Ogba, foremost Sports Marketer and founder of Okpekpe Road Race, Mike Itemuagbor and top Sports Journalist and Media Strategist, Mitchel Obi have lent their voices in support of the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF).
The personalities with backgrounds in sports administration, marketing and media spoke separately in commendation of the festival, an initiative of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with Dunamis Icon as consultants.
“This is a positive addition to the evolving sports business ecosystem because it is not just a springboard for identifying talents, it also offers a platform to truly hone the skills of those already discovered”, remarked Obi, who served as Special Advisor to a former Sports Minister, late Anthony Ikhazabor.
He said the festival will be a flagship event in the region that would trigger interest in sports among the youths and people of the region.
Edo State-born Itemuagbor commended the NDDC for the decision to add sports in the list of their intervention projects in the region, adding that: “This speaks directly to the problem of youth restiveness which is of great concern to our people.”
Raphael Onyedika has now emerged as a major doubt for the Super Eagles’ must-win 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Zimbabwe later this month.
The midfielder was forced out early from last week’s league game against Standard Liege.
He has not recovered from the injury and so will miss today’s league match against Gent and may also miss a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash against Aston Villa yesterday.
The Super Eagles take on Rwanda in Kigali on March 21, before they face Zimbabwe in Uyo four days later in crucial World Cup qualifiers.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Al-Khalood defender, William Troost-Ekong, has shared his experience on the difficulties of winning the prestigious Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) while describing it a must win trophy.
The former Watford FC defender has competed in the tournament three times but has yet to lift the trophy.
“I’ve been there three times now, bronze medal, silver medal, but I haven’t had the chance to win it. That remains my ultimate goal,” he told Tidesports source.
“It means so much to me and all the kids growing up in Africa and Nigeria.”