Rio Olympics: Dream Team Not Ready For Games – Siasia Admits

The coach disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Goal’s Samuel Ahmadu following his team’s disappointing outing at the Suwon Invitational tournament in South Korea.

The Dream Team VI secured just one win at the Suwon tournament – a 3-1 victory over Honduras, after losing their first two games to host South Korea (1-0) and Denmark U21 (6-2).

The former Super Eagles midfielder however said he and his boys took away lots of positives from the tournament, noting that they still have a lot of work to do as they prepare for the Olympic games.

Read the interview below:

Samuel Ahmadu: What message must Nigerians take from your Korea campaign ahead of Rio?

Samson Saisia: The Suwon invitational tournament campaign was preparatory to helping us get ready for a successful outing in Rio. We know from this four-nation tournament that we are not really ready yet. It was an eye opener for us to see the players we have and their ability to perform on a high level like the Olympics.

Samuel Ahmadu: Do you have any disappointment and what lessons will you take from this pre-Olympics campaign?

Samson Saisia: Why should I be disappointed when the real challenge has not started yet. It will help us to prepare better not to get disappointed in the future. We have a lot of lessons from these matches. I cannot share them with you but with my coaching crew as we leave Korea to continue our preparations. It will help us prepare better for the men’s football event in Rio.

Samuel Ahmadu: What did you do differently to push your team to manage a comeback victory against Honduras and silence your critics?

Samson Saisia: They should remember that this is preparation for the Olympics and they should not expect us to win all the matches when you are preparing to attend an important event like the Olympics. Then you won’t know where to make the changes and knowing the ability of each player that you have. Nigerians are bad losers when they did not prepare even well. We abandoned the U23 team without financial support till now.

Samuel Ahmadu: Any plans of fresh player changes for Rio considering your assessment of the players or you’re keeping faith with them?

Samson Saisia: There will be changes of course to make the team a better one.

Samuel Ahmadu: How are you coping with challenges, especially funding – remembering you faced a similar fate at the Caf U23 championship?

Samson Saisia: I have said enough about poor financial support because nothing good will come out of all this talk. No need to talk about it anymore because it will never change we will continue to suffer till the Olympics are over