All Africa Games football - Captain of Nigeria's national Under-23 team Kingsley Udoh has alleged that Ghana used tradition charms, known in local parlance as 'juju', to weaken his team, which lost 2-0 to the Ghanaian team in the second leg, final qualifying round of the All Africa Games football event last Sunday in Kumasi, Ghana. The private Vanguard newspaper Wednesday quoted Udoh as saying the Nigerian team discovered the 'juju' in its dressing room prior to the match.

“We were not in the match because some of us were not able to handle the horrific scenes that we saw when we entered the dressing room. I am not making excuses for our loss but when we made to enter the dressing room, we saw charms and imagine the kind of feelings or fears that could generate for young chaps like us,' Udoh was quoted as saying.

“There is more to how the Ghanaians attained this win than by playing good football. We are a good team which they also know but on that day, some players I felt were good could not play well. Juju may not be working in sports but the fear of it could disorientate some people and I felt some people lost it to fear because of what they saw in the dressing room,” he said.

Nigeria's 2-0 loss in the return leg resulted in a 3-3 aggregate scoreline, but Ghana qualified for the Games, due to be held in Maputo, Mozambique, in September, on the away goals rule.

The 'juju' scare was the second excuse made by the team for the loss, after the Nigerians claimed they were pelted with plastic water bottles by Ghanaian fans during their final training for the match at the Baba Yara stadium.

But the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has dismissed the excuses, saying the team lost because it failed to cash in on its chances.

Some Nigerian fans have also criticised the 'juju' scare claim, saying the players were merely making excuses for squandering a 3-1 lead from the first leg.

'That is a flimsy excuse. Did they use juju to hold your legs?' wrote one commentator in the Vanguard Wednesday.

Pana 14/07/2011