Head coach of Nigeria’s Under-23 tean, Samson Siasia says he is not building his side around any individual as he prepares for this weekend’s All Africa Games qualifying match against Gabon in Libreville.
Siasia has also warned the five overseas-based players called up for the game against Gabon not to rest on their laurels as any dip in standards will see the affected individual instantly dropped.
“There is no automatic shirt in this team. Anybody who does not work hard or meet our standards will be dropped immediately,” Siasia told supersport.com shortly after he named a squad of 21 players for the fixture with Gabon.
The squad are comprised of 16 domestically based players and Siasia says the Nigerian league remains an important pool for the selection of prime talent.
“You can see that there are a lot more players from the local scene. That’s because we want to give our league priority because we believe there are a lot of very good players from the league,” he said.
Siasia’s list of 21 players raised more than a few eyebrows especially as two players originally expected to make the list, Aminu Umar and Alhaji Gero were surprisingly dropped.
Siasia revealed that Umar, in the books of Turkish club, Samsunspor, arrived late to camp which ultimately sounded the death knell for him.
“I have never seen Aminu Umar play and there was no way I was going to take such a player to Gabon.
“He arrived the camp late so I couldn’t really watch him play,” Siasia said.
Siasia is no stranger to coaching or success at this level.
In 2008, he led the Nigeria under-23s to the final of the football event of the Olympics where the Dream Team lost to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina 1-0.
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