Femi Solaja
23 July 2008
Lagos — The shape and tactical formation of what the Dream Team IV will look like will be known this afternoon when coach Samson Siasia parades all his players for the all important friendly against top local South Korean side FC Bussan.
It is after this match that Siasia will name his 18-man squad for the football event of the Beijing Games, which gets underway in the next two weeks.
Although not all the players especially the over aged invitees have arrived the South Korea camp of the team, it is clear that the technical officials have made adequate provision of 'wild cards' for the big lads who would be expected to abide with the match plan of coach Siasia whose last major outing was his silver medal winning feat at the FIFA U-20 finals in Holland in 2005.
A team official revealed to THISDAYSports from Korea last night that all the players in camp are responding very well to the Siasia's training programme which is giving the technical crew a huge selection problem.This, he was responsible for the 24-hour delay in the submission of the final team list.
NigeriaFootball Association (NFA) officials had boasted that the list would be out yesterday, 24 hours before tonight's FIFA deadline, but has been delayed because the coach wanted to know the match ability of several players who have impressed greatly in training.
At about 11:00 am Nigerian time (which is 6:00 pm in Korea), all the players in camp will be in action against the Korean first division one side with the match played at the club's training camp which is about one and a half hours drive from Nigeria's team hotel.
Shortly after the match, the technical crew will put their heads together to pick the final list. It is, however, not clear whether the list will first be sent to the Glass House for final approval before sending it to the Beijing organisers.
"We had a light training today (Tuesday) and very unlike the previous nights all the players went to bed very early in order to get set for tomorrow (today). Everybody is delighted that we are going to play against a top division one side in Korea.
"After the final 18-man squad is named, the team will play a few more matches in Korea before the start of the football event at the Olympics," a top official revealed to THISDAYSports on the telephone from the team's Baekwoon Plaza Hotel in Gwangyang last night.
Meanwhile the official has denied reports that the Dream Team is cash strapped in Korea.
"Everybody here is comfortable and so far there have not been any problems with our finances because all what was expected to be given to the players now is at their disposal," the official revealed.
Nigeria will open her campaign in the soccer event on the 7th of next month with the tie against Holland and will play USA and Japan in the other group matches.
Nigeria's biggest win in global football occurred when Dream Team I won gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Nigeria failed to qualify for the last edition in Athens after being eliminated by Tunisia.
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