Dream Team Needs Quality Friendly Matches – Ex-U17 Player

A former national under-17
male football team coach, Godwin Izilein, says it is possible for the Dream Team to re-enact Nigeria’s 1996 Atlanta Olympics’ feat at the Rio Olympics.
Izilien told newsmen in Benin that the present players in the national under-23 male team would do well after playing quality friendly matches.
The coach, who also handled the Super Falcons at a time, said the matches would expose the good and bad sides of the team.
He however pointed out that aside proper training and exposure which such quality matches would afford the team, organising such matches would still be determined by availability of fund.
“What we need is the availability of fund to organise quality matches.
“We also need the support of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in spite of the crisis rocking the football body.
“The crisis should not in any way affect the team’s preparations. There should be no distraction of any kind.
“We are capable of winning the gold medal in Rio in August because we now have more flexible and exposed players than we had at the 1996 Olympics.’’
Speaking on the team’s head coach Samson Siasia, Izilein said he was now mature and listens to suggestions.
“His method of picking players for the Olympics team is satisfactory,’’ he said.
Similarly, a sports analyst, Joshua Obadan, said in another interview that NFF must ensure a proper training camp and motivation of the players to achieve a good result.
“It is not a tall dream for Nigeria to win the gold medal, but NFF must be at its best. We have the players but they need to be motivated to put in their best.
“We must do away with the usual practice of going to the Games in batches, which in most cases lower the morale of players and affects the team’s overall performance,” he said.