Ocean City Barons - Ocean City Barons

Barons GK aiming for Olympic gold in Beijing

Tunde Ogunbiyi hopes to represent Nigeria as they face Japan, Holland and the USA in Group B

Shortly after finishing one of his best performances in his brief time as an Ocean City Baron, goalkeeper Tunde Ogunbiyi (pronounced Tun-day O-gun-bee) got on a plane bound for Portugal. When he arrived there, he joined his teammates on the Nigerian Olympic Men’s soccer team as they began preparations for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Tunde Ogunbiyi stands at 6’2, 220 lbs. and hopes to make the Nigerian Olympic team.

The Under-23 Eagles, who are billed as the "Dream Team" by some members of the African press, have a tough road ahead of them as they are joined by Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States in Group B. Nigeria are hoping to return to their glory years, having won the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

"We’re confident about our chances at the Olympics," said Ogunbiyi. "If you look at the Under-20 World Cup, Nigeria made it to the quarterfinals, and the majority of the Olympic team was on that team." The Eagles were unbeaten in their group (2-0-1) and did not allow a goal in wins against Costa Rica and Scotland and a scoreless draw with Japan. After defeating Zambia 2-1 in the first knockout stage match, they would be eliminated by Chile 4-0.

After the team’s camp in Portugal, which they trained three times a day for about two weeks, Ogunbiyi was given a break from the team’s preparations, returned to Ocean City and was able to play one more game for the Barons on July 9 at Brooklyn.

Afterwards, the team was scheduled to continue training for the Olympics in Florida, but the Nigerian Football Assocation announced that the trip was cancelled. Instead, now the team headed to South Korea to train with the first game against the Netherlands fast approaching. They will play a number of exhibition games there in order to prepare for the upcoming tournament.

Ogunbiyi was born in Abington, PA to a set of parents from different backgrounds. His father, a doctor of pharmacology, is from Nigeria and his mother, a biochemist, calls the island nation of Jamaica home. The two of them met while going to school in California and eventually settled down in Eastern Pennsylvania.

He began playing the sport at a young age thanks to his father, but it was actually his mother who got the ball rolling initially.

"My mom said she didn’t want any of her kids to be fat," said Ogunbiyi. "So she told my Dad that she wanted her kids to play a sport, and soccer was the only sport he knew."

The 6’2, 220-pound "man mountain", as described by Barons general manager Neil Holloway, was the starting goalkeeper at Wissahickon High School during his junior and senior year. He also helped his club team, PSC Coppa win the 2005 Middletown Showcase U-17 championship, while also capturing the EPYSA (Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association) U-18 State Cup.

He earned a scholarship to University of New Hampshire, majoring in mechanical engineering, and will be entering his junior season this Fall.

His path to the Nigerian Olympic team began out of the blue. With no prior contact with the Nigerian coaching staff or the federation, all of a sudden, the phone rang.

"One day they called my house looking for me," said Ogunbiyi. "My parents notified me, and I was on a plane to go play two days later."

Tunde Ogunbiyi plays his college ball at the University of New Hampshire

He got the call last August and was called back into camp two other times since. In the Olympic qualifying tournament for the continent of Africa, Nigeria punched their ticket on the final day, with a 3-0 win over group leader Ghana. Despite his lack of playing time with the first team, Tunde is hopeful about his future.

"Although I haven’t seen any time in any of the [qualifying] games, the fact that I continually get called back shows promise," he said optimistically. "The experience has made me a much better player and a much better person, and for me, it’s a big honor to play for them."

The Eagles are led by former Nigerian National Team forward Samson Siasia, who scored 13 goals and earned 46 caps for the senior squad, and helped the country win the 1994 African Nations Cup, and qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

At the conclusion of the Nigerian Olympic team’s camp in South Korea, coach Siasia will finalize his roster, and Ogunbiyi hopes to find his name on that list.

He ended up in Ocean City thanks to his former PSC Coppa coach, and current Barons youth academy coach, Tim Oswald. He arrived on the boardwalk after the spring semester at UNH, and made his Barons debut on May 31 in a 2-1 win over the Cape Cod Crusaders. He made seven saves in that match, and started the next three games. Before leaving for Portugal on Friday, June 13, he earned his first shutout in a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Rangers. He only allowed three goals in the four matches, with one of them being a penalty kick, giving him a 0.75 goals against average while making 20 saves.

"Tunde is a tremendous physical presence with great athletic ability," said Holloway. "Although he only played a handful of games, he played a major role in helping us pick up valuable points, especially our win over Cape Cod. Everyone in the Barons organization wishes Tunde all the best in the Olympics and we look forward to having him play again with us next summer."

While he has only spent a short time in Ocean City, the young goalkeeper has enjoyed his time with the Barons.

"The team is great," he said. "There’s a whole bunch of young players, but then there’s also a good group of leaders on the team, and everyone wants to win. It’s a great environment."

While Ogunbiyi has high expectations for his playing career, he still plans to put his education first.

"I would love to play at the next level without a doubt," said Ogunbiyi. "But it is also very important to me that I graduate with a college degree."