On August 5, the Rio Olympics will kick off in Brazil and Nigeria's U23 team known as Dream Team VI are one of the nation's brightest medal hopes. Over recent weeks, the squad has been training in Atlanta in the US and is due to fly into Brazil tomorrow ahead of the start of the tournament.
However, team coach Samson Siasia has revealed that not all in camp as the players are not in the best of moods to produce the desired performance. He added that morale is low as a result of the federal government not paying any allowances and the players do not feel motivated.
Siasia said: “Morale in camp is low, the boys are unhappy and I fear the poor situation could boomerang during the games. Since we began camping about a month now, the players have not been given a dime as camp allowances and for us the coaches, it will be five months of no salaries in August.
"Certainly, this is not the best way to prepare a team for a major tournament like the Olympics. It has been terrible and the boys are disappointed but I am praying that we avoid a situation similar to that witnessed before the Confederations Cup and during the World Cup in Brazil where there was players’ agitation."
He called on the federal government to intervene in order to lift the spirit in camp and give the players a sense of assurance that their labour will not be in vain. However, Siasia said the team will not hold the country to ransom by threatening not to play its matches but called on the government has to come to their rescue.
Nigeria's Olympic team has suffered from government neglect and even the Nigeria Football Federation could not help them. It was through the personal effort of the coach Siasia that a private sponsor was secured before the team could travel to the USA for pre-Games camping.
Apparently, during training sessions, all the players had were two packs of bottled water. The hotel they stayed only served them breakfast, while their lunch and dinner were bought from outside eateries.
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