PREMIERESHIP CLUBS STAND ON THE WAY TO SUCCESS OF SIASIA COME OLYMPICS
Coach Samson Siasia is
perhaps not a happy man at the moment. After a poor outing earlier in the month
at the Suwon invitational tournament in South Korea, including a 6-2 bashing by
Denmark, the former Nigeria international has been desperate to put his team in
proper shape ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
On Friday, Siasia released a 35-man
provisional squad for the Olympics but he has voiced his frustration over the
likely unavailability of some of the names on the list. His major concern is on
players in the English Premier League as it appears the English clubs are ready
to throw a spanner in the works of the coach ahead of the Games.
As the Games get closer, it is
becoming evident that several key players that Siasia is banking on in the EPL
to help his gold medal chase in Rio will not be allowed to make the trip to
Brazil by these clubs.
The England-based players on his
list are Chelsea duo Mikel Obi and Kenneth Omeruo, Manchester City’s Kelechi
Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi (Arsenal).
Iheanacho was remarkable last
season, where he notched 14 goals for the English giants and Siasia was banking
on him to lead his attack at the Games but City has stated categorically that
they won’t allow their promising player feature at the Olympic Games.
Siasia in his statement said “Kelechi
told me he is anxious to play in the Olympics and I am sure with much pressure
the boy would be released eventually. But for now I cannot tell you he will be
in the Olympics,”.
Striker Odion Ighalo also had an
amazing debut EPL season at Watford scoring 18 goals — 16 in the league and two
in the FA Cup — but he has been told by The Hornets that they won’t release him
while Chelsea have not confirmed the release of Mikel for the Games.
According to Chairman Technical
Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Chris Green, also doubtful for the
Rio Games is Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi.
“It’s becoming very difficult but
we won’t relent. We will do everything possible to make sure the squad prepares
very well technically for the Olympics. I and the federation president have
discussed and we are looking at re-presenting the matter to these clubs for
them to have a rethink,” Green stated.
“Brazil are going to the Games with
big players like Neymar. Why did Barcelona not stop him? Is he not an important
player for them? We will keep pushing but there is an extent we can go because
clubs are not obliged to release the players. It’s a delicate situation.”
Siasia is not flustered as well.
“I have been there before and won a
silver medal and I know how difficult it is to go far. We are hopeful that if
the majority of those we invited turn up, we would compete favourably in Rio,”
he added.
But the possibility of securing his
best players might prove a difficult task due to FIFA’s stance on the Olympics.
The world football body says clubs are under no obligation to allow their
players to play in the Rio Olympic men’s tournament.
“The event is not part of the
international match calendar,” FIFA said in a press release. “However, FIFA is
asking for support from the clubs to allow players who are called up by their
national teams to be given the chance to be part of the Olympic experience.”
Remarkably, FIFA ordered clubs to
release players called up by their national teams for the Olympic Games football
tournament in London in 2012.
“The executive decided that the
release of U-23 players by the clubs shall be compulsory,” FIFA said in a
statement.
But the move, approved by FIFA’s
executive committee was seen as potentially controversial as the competition
was not part of the international match calendar.
FIFA executive committee thus
agreed to proposals from European clubs to reduce the number of international
matches for players.
The 2008 Olympic tournament was
marked by a battle between Barcelona and Argentina over the release of Lionel
Messi. The issue was settled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled
in Barcelona’s favour to keep their star player but the Catalan club then
decided to release him and Argentina went on to win the tournament, beating a
Nigerian side managed by Siasia in the final.
Manchester Evening News columnist Stuart Brennan says City were right to stop
Iheanacho from the trip to Brazil arguing that “in the long run the player and
his country will thank them for it.”
He wrote, “Last season was a
breakthrough for the 19-year-old – he was a breath of fresh air in a strike
force limited by Sergio Aguero’s injury troubles and Wilfried Bony’s
unsuitability.
“Scoring 14 goals in a debut season
in which he only made 11 starts is exceptional, but it was his eye for a pass
to set up others which singled him out as a real talent…the teenager has to
adapt to the demands of a new manager and probably a new system.
“And on top of all that, he is
likely to face competition from new attacking players, with the Blues in hot
pursuit of Schalke winger Leroy Sane and Celta Vigo’s Nolito.
“Those targets indicate that (Pep)
Guardiola will play a 4-3-3, and that means Iheanacho will face competition for
three places with Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling,
Jesus Navas, and possibly Bony, Samir Nasri, Nolito and Sane.
“City fans were incandescent at
times last season at Manuel Pellegrini’s insistence on playing Bony ahead of
the precocious youngster. But the fact is that he is still raw, and Pellegrini
was trying to protect him from over-exposure.
“Guardiola is more prepared to risk
giving youth its head, which is in Iheanacho’s favour – but also means that
other young academy talents like Thierry Ambrose could soon be breathing down
his neck.
“It is clear Kelechi has the
ability to emerge from that battling mass of talent to become a legend for City
and Nigeria … and missing the Olympics will be seen as a small price to pay.”
Perhaps Siasia may have to turn to
2 Corinthians 12:9, the Biblical verse that is boldly written on one of his Fez
caps, for inspiration in the precarious situation he finds himself at the
moment.
It reads, “But he said to me, ‘My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me.”
But the coach sure has a wealth of
talents on his provisional list. Emerging FC Porto midfielder Mikel Agu, who
helped Club Brugge win the Belgian league title last season is a name that
readily comes to mind. The 23-year-old’s ball holding skills, passing ability
and his tackling are top-notch.
In the likes of Taiwo Awoniyi,
Junior Ajayi, Okechukwu Azubuike, Williams Troost-Ekong, Oghenekaro Etebo, Imoh
Ezekiel, Wilfred Ndidi and several others, Siasia has an amazing pool of
talents to choose from as he seeks to consolidate on last year’s African U-23
Championship victory as well as going a step further from 2008, when he won
silver, by winning a second gold medal for the country in the men’s football
event of the Rio Olympics.
PREMIERESHIP CLUBS STAND ON THE WAY TO SUCCESS OF SIASIA COME OLYMPICS
Reviewed by deewhyhem
on
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Rating:

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