The Sun News On-line

Two members of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold winning team, skipper Nwankwo Kanu and Garba Lawal, have said that the Beijing Olympic-bound team were not yet a Dream Team

They told Sunday Sunsport in separate interviews that the team tutored by Samson Siasia still have a long way to attain the name, ‘Dream Team’ as they’re fondly called now, adding that there was still room for improvement.

According to Lawal, the team were blessed with a lot of individual talents with brilliant ideas, but they were not yet working as a component unit. He said their midfield and defence were suspect all through the encounter with South Africa on Wednesday.

"I will talk to Siasia to work on some areas in the team. I will also talk to the players to always give their best at all times. They are good individually, but they need to play as a team because football is a team sport.
"If you ask me, I would say they’re not yet the Dream Team we are expecting to win the Olympic gold. But I believe they can become one with hard work and discipline. The Siasia I know is a hard working coach, who knows what to do to bring out the best out of his players.
"The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and the National Sports Commission (NSC) will do well by helping in organising friendly matches and playing tours in Europe for the team in order to toughen the boys," Lawal advised.

Kanu, who was also in Abuja to watch the Siasia boys, said he knew the players could do better than they did against South Africa, positing that to beat the world, they must do better than they did on Wednesday.

According to him, the players needed to improve on their passes and set pieces to be able to attain the expected height. He pointing out that they played more of individualistic game.
"I really believe they can shock the world if they are focused and can play as a team. They have the talents, but they have to work very hard to become the Dream Team we expect them to be," he stated.
The Super Eagles’ skipper, however, commended the team for qualifying for the Beijing Olympics, stressing that with the right preparations, they could win a medal in China.