The Nigerian Olympic team preparations will include a month-long camp in the United States, but the European based players will not be expected to join the squad in Atlanta for the entire month, due to club commitments.
The Dream Team VI, as the Nigeria Under-23 national team is nicknamed, will be one of three African teams taking part in the men’s football tournament at the Rio Olympics in August. Algeria and South Africa are the other two men’s sides from the continent.
Preparations for the team will include a training camp in the United States, with the planned trip to Manchester in England recently cancelled.
At the end of June the team will travel to Atlanta in the US for a month-long camp.
During their time in Georgia, the Dream Team VI will play three friendly matches. They face Mexico’s Olympic team on July 2, before a game against local team Charleston Battery FC on July 16. They will end their time in Atlanta on July 27 with a match against the Honduras Olympic side.
European based players not able to join for the entire month
After those preparations are concluded, the team will leave Atlanta to join the other Olympic men’s teams in Brazil.
As the American training camp falls within the month of July, the Nigerian technical team is not expecting players who are based in Europe to join the team for the entirety of that camp, according to AfricanFootball.
This is because this time is crucial for club teams who are in pre-season training ahead of the new European club seasons.
It seems that all players will be expected to take part in the friendly against Mexico on July 2, before being allowed to return to their club teams. It is hoped that most of those released players will then return in time to feature against Honduras on July 27.
The Dream Team VI have been drawn in Group B, alongside Sweden, Colombia and Japan.
They will look to replicate the impressive achievement by the Nigerian team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where they emerged as gold medal winners.
The final squad including three overage players will be revealed by coach Samson Siasia in due course.
The post Nigeria’s European-Based Players Not Joining Atlanta Olympic Camp appeared first on AFKInsider.