Head Coach of the U-23 National
Team, Samson Siasia has read the
riot act by giving all invited home
-based members of the Flying
Eagles team that went to New
Zealand, Friday 26th June as
deadline to report to the team’s
camp or forget about the
invitation.
Expressing anger at the attitude
of the players to the invitation,
Siasia said he cannot understand
why players who called to beg
for permission to see their
families and rest a little would fail
to report to camp after the one -
week grace he granted.
“No player can hold the nation to
ransom. This attitude of theirs is
unprofessional. When the players
arrived from the U-20 World Cup,
they called me to beg for a grace
period to rest a little, which I did,
and they promised to report
after one week. It is now more
than one week and none of them
is around.”
Siasia disclosed that the Friday
deadline is to give the players the
benefit of doubt.
It would be recalled that Coach
Siasia had invited Captain Musa
Mohammed, strikers Godwin
Savior and Taiwo Awoniyi and
goalkeeper Dele Alampasu who
are based at home to report to
camp on Monday 22nd June,
while the overseas-based players
Kingsley Sokari, Musa Yahaya,
Kelechi Iheanacho and Moses
Simon have been given until two
weeks to the African U-23
Championship qualifier against
Congo billed for Port Harcourt on
July 19.
Already, Sharks FC defender
Chima Akas and his Warri Wolves
counterpart, Semiu Liadi
alongside the overseas-based
Umar Aminu, Shehu Abdullahi
and Ikechukwu Okorie have all
reported to camp, cutting short
their break.
In a related development, Coach
Siasia has denied reports making
the rounds in the media that he
has invited a Norway-based
defender, Sola Akinyemi to the
Dream Team, saying that before
any player is invited from abroad
to any of the National Teams,
there is a process to be followed
with the NFF giving the nod for
such invitation.
While thanking the media for all
the support since he took over
the U-23 team, Coach Siasia
appealed for thorough
verification of any information
before publication
