It’s been 20 years since Nigeria’s football team made Olympic history but the memories remain as vivid as yesterday for a nation that, in the midst of misery, remembered what it…

There are effectively two eras in Nigerian football: before 1994 and after; the former corresponding to a virtual Dark Age, and the latter, the summer of 1996 especially, to the Renaissance.

The promise and excitement of the 1994 World Cup in the USA had been truncated in rather anticlimactic circumstances in the Round of 16 by eventual finalists Italy, leading to the exit of Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof. His assistant stayed on within the set-up though, and two years later, when Nigeria made a return to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, Jo Bonfrere held the reins.

Significantly, Nigeria’s team for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta contained more than a few players who had either graced the World Cup or had been within the set-up. Notably Uche Okechukwu, who had taken over captaincy of the senior national side, was drafted into the centre of defence, a concession granted during the Olympics for three players over 23 within each squad.

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The likes of Sunday Oliseh and Jay-Jay Okocha had also featured, and had been key protagonists in that agonizing extra-time loss to the Italians. Emmanuel Amunike rounded out the veteran complement.

There was also a frisson of talent drawn from the U-17 side that had won the World Cup in 1993, and it was from that crop that a legend was born: Nwankwo Kanu, lanky, dainty as a pelican and with a touch like velvet.

Wilson Oruma was a fine midfielder, and had finished tournament top scorer in Japan, while left-back Celestine Babayaro proved surprisingly prolific, aiding the cause with two crucial goals at the business end of the Olympics.






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