Alexander De Croo’s decision came after his party, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD), suffered a significant defeat, scoring only 5.9 percent of the vote.
Flamingos will host Liberia in the return leg scheduled for Friday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
Eighty-eight athletes from Nigeria have qualified for the Olympic Games; others are still in the qualification process before the closing windows.
In the 75th minute, substitute Samuel Chukwueze was very close to putting Nigeria ahead, but his effort struck the crossbar.
“We cannot afford to miss out on the World Cup again.”
Maguire, Maddison, and five other players were dropped as the final team list was announced on Thursday ahead of a June 7 submission deadline.
Southgate had initially named a 33-man preliminary squad but had to drop seven before the June 7 deadline for countries to submit their final squads.
The 2024 finals in Colombia will be the first to welcome 24 teams, with Africa producing four teams.
“He was a complete gentleman.’’
“They just landed in Uyo,” NFF said.
