MANCHESTER CITY’S IHEANACHO RULED OUT OF AFRICAN U23 CHAMPIONSHIP

The Citizens' rookie will play no part in the country's
quest to book a place in Rio Olympics according to coach
Samson Siasia
Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho has been ruled out of
the 2015 African U23 Championship in Senegal, coach
Samson Siasia has revealed.
The forward who part of the Super Eagles that silenced
Swaziland in the 2018 Fifa World Cup second round
qualifier will not join the Dream Team VI as they hope to
secure a place in Rio 2016.
"The initial plans I had with the player and his
representative was that he would join us at least five
days to the competition and also help the team till the
semi-finals stage which he agreed but later he told
somebody very close to me that his club Manchester City
is not convinced to release him again since he was
dumped on the bench at the last Fifa U20 World Cup
under Coach Manu Garba. So as it is right now I don't
think Kelechi Iheanacho will join us again," Siasia told
Goal.
"The good news is that Junior Ajayi who is based in
Tunisia has since Sunday joined us and we are expecting
the team captain Azubuike (Okechukwu) and Taiwo
Awoniyi to arrive on Tuesday so that we can have a full
house to concentrate on for the tournament."
The former Super Eagles' handler confessed that his team
still find it hard to score goals but vowed to do his best
to ensure that the players convert at least two or three of
five chances created in matches.
"This team has been creating a lot of chances in
competitive matches and test matches but the problem is
that they used to waste these begging chances which are
not good for a team aspiring to win tournaments," he
continued.
"We are expecting the invited foreign based strikers like
Awoniyi and Junior Ajayi who have been with the team for
some time before they turned professionals to use their
newly garnered experience to help the team score goals in
the competition.
"We are targeting winning the competition or better still
pick one of the qualification tickets for the 2016 Olympic
Games."
He confessed that he has been very disturbed and affected
by the kidnap of his mother but had to concentrate on
tinkering the U23 national team to get the 2016 Olympics
against all odds.
"I will confess to you the kidnap of my mother really
affects me but this is a national assignment which I need
to make sure we get the qualification ticket for next year's
Olympics in Brazil.
"I want everybody most especially the federal government
led by president Muhammadu Buhari, Bayelsa State
Government and the Inspector General of Police to help me
secure the release of my mother," he concluded.
Nigeria missed out of the London 2012 Games men's
football event and would hope to qualify for Rio 2016
having been zoned in Group B alongside Egypt, Mali and
Algeria.