Dream Team VI team coach Samson Siasia has identified late or non-release of the eligible players from Europe as likely challenge his team will face ahead of the 2016 Olympic game preparations.
“August is when clubs in Europe would commence their leagues and experience has shown over the years that clubs in Europe are always very reluctant to release players for Olympics competition. So if there is no pressure and mutual understanding between these clubs and the Nigeria Football Federation we may be deprived of our best legs in the Olympics.
“That is the reason why I want us to start our preparations now so that we can mould a better and stronger team than the one that won the Africa U- 23 Championship in Senegal. We can’t rely solely on the foreign based players because they might disappoint us if their clubs fail to release them,” Siasia told SportingLife.
Siasia as at the time of filing this report was on the heels of the Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung and the chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation to ensure that at the latest the team starts camping on Monday.
“Right now I want to go and see the Honourable Minister and the General Secretary of the NFF Dr Sanusi Muhammed on this issue. Hopefully we may kick start our camping on Monday next week,” Siasia disclosed.