Oliseh Turns Down Olympics to Focus on Dortmund Duties
Copyright � 2000 Nando Media
Copyright � 2000 Agence France-Presse
DORTMUND, Germany (July 15, 2000 4:45 p.m. EDT http://www.sportserver.com) - Nigeria captain Sunday Oliseh has said he will not play for his country at the Sydney Olympics, so that he can instead focus on having a good start with his new club, Borussia Dortmund.
Oliseh, who has just moved to Dortmund from Juventus on a five-year contract for $8 million, joins midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha in knocking back an invitation from Nigeria's coach Dutch coach, Jo Bonfrere, to join the under-23 Olympic squad as over-age players.
"I would be away for a long time preparing for Sydney. That would be unfair towards Dortmund," 25-year-old Oliseh said.
"At the beginning of the year I was away with Nigeria for six weeks at the Africa Cup, and when I came back I had lost my place at Juventus."
Okocha, at Paris St. Germain, says he would prefer to concentrate on playing for Nigeria's senior team.
Oliseh may yet to have played a game for Dortmund, but he has
intimate knowledge of the Bundesliga after playing 52 games for FC Cologne between 1995 and 1997.
Nigeria is facing difficult times as it bids to defend its Olympic title in Sydney.
Typical of its shoddy preparations was the recent cancellation of a training camp in Germany when the Nigeria Football Association failed to pay for it in time, allowing another team to move in.
