Solomon Dalung, the Sports Minister, has frowned at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) following the failure of the national U-20 side, the Flying Eagles, to qualify for the 2017 U-20 Cup of Nations in Zambia, with a promise to possibly summon the leadership of the football house over the development, the Daily Independent reports.
Sudan, on Saturday, defeated Nigeria 4-3 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos to advance on away goal rule after the aggregate score stood at 5-5. The Nigerian side had, a fortnight ago; beat their Sudanese counterpart 2-1 in Khartoum.
The result meant that Nigeria, for the first time in 13 years, will be missing the continental showpiece, which will also serve as qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea in 2017.
An official of the ministry of sports, who works very close to Dalung, said that the minister was not happy with the NFF, especially as the country will also be missing next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Gabon according to reports.
“The minister was very bitter with the NFF for this (Flying Eagles defeat). He said that the current board of NFF has not done enough because Nigeria will also be missing the senior Nations Cup. In fact, he will likely summon the NFF over this latest development.
“To him, the current board of the NFF have failed the nation. First it was the Super Eagles failure to qualify for the Cup of Nations; then the issue of coaching where Le Guen turned down their offer and now the Flying Eagles failing to also qualify to defend their cup.
“Summing this up, the minister just rated these people low in all areas. Nigeria has not gotten it this bad before,” said the source, who is privy to the sports minister.
All effort to speak to NFF Media Officer, Demola Olajire, failed, but another NFF source hinted that the board would meet after the departure of visiting FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, to look into what went wrong in the Flying Eagles match against Sudan.
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