Obi May Not Play For Nigeria …2012 Olympics Qualifiers

The national under-23 men

            football
team is not likely to have the services of Inter Milan midfielder Joel Obi at
the upcoming 2012 Olympics qualifiers, a team official has disclosed.

Team head coach Austin Eguavoen, who
disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, however said he was sure about the
availability of five other foreign-based players.

The Tidesports gathered reports that the
team also known as the Dream Team V is to play at the qualifiers dubbed the CAF
U-23 Championship.

The eight-nation championship is scheduled
for Morocco, from November 26 to December 10, 2011, with the top three sides
qualifying automatically for the Olympic Games in London.

“Obi won’t be available because his club’s
Technical Director discussed with me at length about their situation.

“However, while I can take the risk of
putting him in the team, it is certain that he will not be available for us in
the first one or two games which are important for us,” Eguavoen said.

The coach said the situation could only get
better if Inter’s position in both the UEFA Champions League and the Serie A
improves.

“If Inter qualifies on time, then they will
let him come but if they are struggling to qualify, then they won’t let him
come.

“But I can understand and see reasons with
them because this is the first time in many years that the club has found
itself in the lower side of their league table. So, we must understand.

“So, to me, he can either be included on
our final list or we can completely forget about him.

“While it’s not that we can’t do without
him, but it is also a fact that if we have him it’s going to be a plus for us,”
he said.

Tidesports reports that the Dream Team V
are in Group A of the championship, alongside Morocco, Algeria and Senegal,
with their opening game on Nov. 26 against the hosts.

Eguavoen who just returned from a trip to
four European countries to discuss the release of players for the team with the
players’ clubs was however optimistic on other players.

“Obiora Nwankwo, Ahmed Musa, Nnamdi
Oduamadi, Uchebo Okechukwu and Ekigho Ehiosun, are expected while Rabiu Ibrahim
is outrightly out because his club gave us their own reasons and we have to
respect that,” he said.

Eguavoen who said he was still optimistic
his team has a very bright chance of doing well in Morocco said his visit to
the European clubs was not a wasted trip.

“The need to sit across the table with the
clubs’ Technical Directors and coaches is very important. It’s not something
you do over the phone.

“Some may see it in either a positive or
negative way, but it was very necessary because we couldn’t have risked sending
e-mails or any other thing which would have made our request to be dropped in
the trash can,” he said.

On whether the Dream Team V had missed some
quality time of preparation while he was away, Eguavoen said his team had
missed nothing.

“If you look at it, we have the assistants,
who are the technical hands who handled this team when I was away. Moreover, it
was just about seven days. I don’t think we’ve lost anything.

“The coach has to be very proactive when
taking decisions such as this. The problem we have had were the dates of
availability.

“This is because we wanted them to come
earlier while some of the clubs are busy with the Champions League and some
other league competitions.

“Now all we have to do is to put our
preparations in shape by sending on time the letters for these players to be
released,” he said.