The Sun News On-line

Coach Samson Siasia, early in the week, jetted out of the country with his provisional 28-man Dream Team IV squad to Korea for their final training tour en route to Beijing Olympics next month.

The team largely made up of the Flying Eagles squad that won silver at the 2005 World Youth Championship (WYC) in Holland, exuded a lot of confidence with many football fans already tipping them to repeat the feat achieved by the Nwankwo Kanu-led Dream Team, which won gold in the men’s football event at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics.

But former Green Eagles dribbling wizard, Haruna Ilerika, has expressed strong reservations about the team’s chance at the Games, especially with the absence of Chelsea FC of England midfielder, John Mikel Obi, whose inspirational play propelled the 2005 squad to the final at the WYC.

Mikel’s exclusion from the squad to Beijing has raised serious controversy with Siasia sticking to his gun that the recalcitrant player has no role in his team having played none of the qualifying matches ahead of the summer Games.

But Ilerika, fondly called ‘The Master Dribbler’ in his heyday, insisted in an interview with Saturday Sunsport that the 2005 World Youth Championship Silver Boot Award winner would make a huge difference with his commanding presence in the midfield during the global sports fiesta.
Hear him: “I have always said it that Coach Samson Siasia should forget and forgive Mikel’s youthful exuberance and include him in the Olympics squad.

He went on: “The Olympics is a different ball game from the qualifying matches. The Dream Team IV will meet real oppositions in Beijing.

“That’s when they will need a player in the mould of Mikel who can hold the ball and deliver killer passes to the strikers to score goals.

“Just like I have been telling people regarding the Super Eagles who have won all their World and Nations Cup qualifiers so far, neither the Eagles nor the Dream Team have met real opposition yet, African football is not the same as when you get to the global stage. When you get to the Olympics in Beijing, you will meet the best teams in the world.

“Just wait and see what happens by the time the group matches start at the Olympics before we can assess the Dream Team IV.”

Ilerika would not agree with what appears like a popular opinion that the Mikel the whole world saw at the 2005 WYC in Holland is a lot different from the Mikel of today.
Many argue that the Chelsea of England midfielder has lost his offensive instinct for a more defensive role.

“Those who think that Mikel is no longer as good as he was when he played at the WYC in 2005 are those who do not know the technicalities of the game.

“Mikel is quite mature now and has age on his side. I still reckon with him and believe that he has a big role to play in the Dream Team IV team at the Beijing Olympics.
Not even the inclusion of Super Eagles trio of Osaze Odemwingie, Ikechukwu Uche and Vincent Enyeama in the Beijing-bound team would persuade Ilerika that the team would excel at the global event like the Atlanta ’96 Olympic team which won gold in the men’s football event.
“I have always said that Osaze is my man anyday. He plays one-touch football and does not fumble. He is always business-like whenever he is on the pitch. His inclusion and that of Ikechukwu Uche in the team, for me, is a welcome development.

“But we don’t have a Nwankwo Kanu or Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha in the present squad of the Dream Team to Beijing Olympics. We don’t have the kind of talents we had in the Atlanta ’96 Olympics squad.

That is why Nigerians should not expect so much from the present Dream Team,” Ilerika cautioned.