The technical team of the National Under-23 team, the Black Meteors has postponed the camping exercise of the team to Monday, February 16.

The Meteors who were called for camping last week and were supposed to continue this week have to call it off due to the refusal of their respective clubs to release the players for the intended camping. Most of the invited players are from Hearts, Kotoko, King Faisal and Liberty Professionals who are all taking part in the on- going Coca Cola Top Four Tournament.

Information reaching the GNA Sports from the technical team indicates that the participating clubs refused to release the invited players despite series of negotiations between them and the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

The lucrative Top Four tournament seems to have reached a crucial stage and each of the clubs are bent on picking any of the two slots to qualify for a similar tournament scheduled for South Africa in June this year.

The GFA and the technical team have therefore no option than to postpone the camping exercise as the various clubs are in no mood to release the said players and this move has apparently not made newly signed on coach, Mariano Barreto the least happy about the situation. In an interview with the GNA Sports, the coach wondered why club assignment superseded national programmes adding that the situation might affect the team's performance.

Coach Barreto said he would have used this week to strengthen the cohesion in the team as he needed time to build a winsome side. The coach said in spite of this, he is hoping to make use of the little time at his disposal to prepare for the match against Algeria, scheduled for February 22.

Coach Barreto was however not sure of making use of the foreign-based players, because according to him, he is satisfied with the level of performance so far displayed by the local boys.

The Meteors are expected to take on their Algerian counterparts in the second leg of the Olympic Games qualifying match at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

The match is a crucial one since the nation's chance of qualification will be enhanced if the Meteors beat the Algerians.