2008 Olympics Draw:U-23 Coaches Off for China

NFA Deputy Secretary General (General Services), Barrister Musa Amadu will today lead out the duo of National U-23 team head coach Samson Siasia and his women’s team counterpart Jossy Lad to China for the 2008 Olympics football tournaments Draw Ceremony taking place on Sunday. The Draw Ceremony on Sunday formally kicks off the build-up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for which Nigeria has qualified for both men’s and women’s tournaments. The trio will travel aboard Emirates Airline, which takes off in the afternoon from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. To reach the finals, Siasia’s boys beat Ghana’s Black Meteors to the tape with eight points against seven, while Jossy Lad’s girls also conquered Ghana’s Black Queens, in a group that also included South Africa. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi turned 50 on Wednesday, and said he is more than ever before determined to work hard to see that Nigeria football returns to the top at international level. “The challenge before us now is to sit down and work, work very hard. The glory days of Nigeria football must return. That calls for a lot of sacrifice, a lot of diligence and a lot of self –denial. “Football at international level is big deal. It is not anything to be treated with levity and at our level, administration has to be more up-and-doing. We have the players, we have the ambition, so why can’t we rule the world?”Lulu Abdullahi spoke from Cairo, Egypt where he is attending a meeting of the Inter –Clubs Committee of the Confederation of African Football, of which he is a member.The NFA Chairman, who is also a member of the FIFA Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee, has been in the saddle for the past 20 months, during which time Nigeria has qualified for all major international tournaments. On Saturday in his native town of Idah, Lulu Abdullahi will be conferred with the high chieftaincy title of Omachi-Attah, by the Attah Igala, Alhaji (Dr) Aliyu Obaje.