Unless there is a change of fortune in the camp of the Rio Olympics-bound U-23 team, international disgrace awaits Nigeria in Brazil.
The Nigeria U-23 Olympic team that have been camping in Atlanta, USA are not in the best of moods to produce the desired performance that can guarantee the kind of results expected of them.
The Olympic team suffered government neglect as even the Nigeria Football Federation could not help them. It was through the personal effort of the coach, Samson Siasia that a private sponsor was secured before the team could travel to the USA for pre-Games camping.
“The morale in camp is low, the boys are unhappy and I fear, the poor situation could boomerang during the Games.” That was the fear of the team’s chief coach, Samson Siasia who spoke from the team’s Atlanta camp.
Continuing, Siasia said, “since we began camping about a month now, the players have not been given a dime as camp allowances and for us the coaches, it will be five months of no salaries in August. Certainly, this is not the best way to prepare a team for a major tournament like the Olympics.”
“We will not hold the country to ransom by threatening not to play our matches, but the government has to come to our rescue.”
The Olympic team are due to depart the United States of America for Brazil on Friday but there are fears that the players may embark on strike in Brazil.
“After a month-long camping in the US, through which they stayed under very poor conditions not befitting of a Nigerian national team, the anger in the players may overflow and they may fight back with the threat of a strike as their first option,” a source told Vanguard.
The source disclosed further, “during training sessions, all the players had were two packs of bottled water. The hotel they stayed only served them breakfast, while their lunch and dinner were bought from outside eateries.”
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