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CAF U23

Ibadan is the home of Nigeria’s Olympic Eagles

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Nigeria, the 1996 Olympic champions,  will press ahead with their objective of a second Olympic football gold medal when they host Guinea in an U23 Africa Cup of Nations final qualifying fixture, first leg at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan on Wednesday, 22nd March.

A penalty in each half, and at opposing sides, guaranteed a stalemate in the first leg of the second-round fixture against Tanzania at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam in October last year, before a textbook free-kick by Timilehin Ogunniyi and another penalty by captain Success Makanjuola in the return in Ibadan saw the Eagles sail to the final round.

The clash with Guinea will determine, after both legs, which of Nigeria and Guinea will progress to the 4th Africa U23 Cup of Nations to be staged in Morocco later in the year.

Nigeria won the second edition of the Africa U23 Cup of Nations in Senegal in 2015, and then won the bronze medal at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Brazil the following year.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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