AFTER leading Nigeria’s men’s football team to a bronze finish at the last Olympic Games in Rio, Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel, has revealed that the feat was achieved purely because the players decided to play for themselves and the country, as someone in the Sports Ministry did try to crush their Olympics dream.
The Samson Siasia-tutored team which braced several odds, arrived in Brazil just some hours to its opener against Japan due to poor flight arrangements, went as far as the semi-finals of the Games and eventually claimed the bronze medal at the expense of Honduras.
Mikel told Goal.com ahead of last weekend’s Premiership clash between Swansea City and his club, Chelsea, which ended 2-2, that there were frustration, pain and anger in the team, which he however, said never deterred the players.
“I came to the camp. I sat down with the boys in Atlanta and I could see the frustration, the pain and the anger. Their aim was to play in the Olympics, their goal was to play in the Olympics.
“And for me being there and seeing what they are going through, they are young boys, they want to start their career and someone in the ministry is trying to crush that dream,” the Chelsea star told Goal.
According to Mikel, the Olympics team’s problems began in Atlanta, United States of America, where the Nigerian team had its pre-Olympics training, adding that the initial plan of leaving at least three days before the commencement of the Rio Games was frustrated by a shoddy flight arrangement.
“There was just no flight provided by the Nigerian ministry. We planned to leave three or four days before the tournament, but we ended up leaving the day of our first game. It was a difficult one. I don’t think I have ever seen something like that before — it was crazy,” he stated.
“[After our last-minute flight] we got to the hotel, dropped our bags, grabbed some sandwiches, something to eat, a little bit of food, then headed straight back to the stadium because we hadn’t even done our accreditations then, so we had to go there and wait in the line, do our accreditation.
“It was absolutely hectic. I don’t know how we managed to go onto the pitch and win that game — it was absolutely mind blowing,” Mikel said.
He revealed his motivational roles before and during the Games in the face of the off the pitch challenges the team encountered, informing that he told his colleagues to put the frustrations behind them and go ahead to achieve what they came to the Olympic Games to achieve.
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