An ever growing list of over 50 players called up by Nigeria’s U-23 coach, Samson Siasia, for next month’s Africa U-23 Nations Cup in Senegal has sparked off questions regarding the readiness of the team to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
With just about a month to the kick-off of the tournament in Senegal, both the coach and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have clearly shown they still have not grasped the Herculean task ahead.
Siasia has also named 16 overseas-based professionals for a competition, which is not on the international football calendar.
Four years ago, the then coach of the U-23s Austin Eguavoen had only himself to blame when all but a handful of the foreign pros he invited featured at the inaugural tournament in Morocco because their clubs refused to release them.
The inclusion of Portugal-based Stanley Amuzie, who has been confirmed will be sidelined for at least another six months by a major knee injury that needed surgery, also raises a poser.
In addition, one of the team’s key players Godwin Saviour has been overlooked in this list of call-ups and that leaves a lot to be desired.
Saviour and Shehu Abdullahi could not feature at the recent All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville because the European clubs who pay their wages held on to their players.
But while Shehu has been recalled by the U-23s, Saviour, who has made remarkable progress at high-riding Belgian club KV Oostende, is now being used as a scape goat after the country could not register their replacements for AAG.
The credibility of call-ups to the U-23 team has widely been questioned and this latest bogus list of invitees has further heightened suspicions.
What really goes on as regards those who get called up to the U23 team?
The competition in Senegal will not be a picnic – Egypt pulled out of the All Africa Games so as to focus on this tournament and Mali have in the last couple of years proved to be an emerging force beyond even the shores of the continent especially at age-group competitions.
Siasia cannot afford to throw away a second chance, which he had to wait more than three years to come by after he was fired for failing to qualify Nigeria to the 2012 AFCON.
