Everything that could have gone
wrong for Nigeria’s U-23 team went wrong. Indeed their bronze medal feat
at Rio 2016 is the Cinderella story of the Olympics but their troubles
far outnumbered their the journey of a thousand miles, they
say, begins with a step. But for Nigeria’s U-23 team, the trip to a
bronze medal outing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, began with
and was tainted with controversy after controversy.
Head coach Samson Siasia first led the
team to a silver medal outing at the 2008 Beijing Games but his second
coming to the side left much to be desired right from the build-up to
the 2015 All Africa Games to the African qualifiers for the Olympics and
then the Olympics proper.
Siasia led the team to considerable
success winning the 2015 U-23 African Cup of Nations despite the
challenges and qualifying for Rio but the squad faced a tumultuous time
before winning the bronze on Saturday, courtesy of a hard-fought 3-2
defeat of Honduras.
Below are some of the troubles they faced on their way to the podium in Rio:
Bonus row ahead of AAG
Players of the team rejected the $1,000
offered each of them by the Nigeria Football Federation after their 4-1
victory over Gabon in a 2015 All Africa Games qualifier last year.
The players were reportedly set for a
showdown with the federation, insisting that the money was too small for
them despite the federation’s complaints of lack of finance.
“It is not good that after the victory in Libreville, all they could give us is a meager $1,000,” a player told Africanfootball.com.
Team media officer Timi Ebikagboro, however dispelled the story.
‘Wash-and-wear’ Nike contract
At last year’s All Africa Games, players
of the U-23 team had just one jersey, which they had to wash themselves
after each game. “It’s embarrassing; we don’t have training kits up
till now. We wash and wear. People see the finished product but they
don’t see what we go through,” coach Siasia said in Congo.
Pinnick abandons team in Pointe Noire
NFF boss Amaju Pinnick, an Arsenal fan,
came under a barrage of criticisms when he travelled to London to watch
the Community Shield game between the Gunners and Chelsea at the expense
of the U-23 team and the Super Falcons, who were both involved in
matches leading up to the Rio Games.
The Falcons lost 2-1 to Equatorial
Guinea in Bata and crashed out of the Olympics, but the U-23 team held
the Congolese to a 0-0 draw in Pointe Noire, to qualify for the 2015
U-23 AFCON in Senegal.
Siasia’s mother kidnapped
While in Gambia preparing the squad for
the U-23 AFCON, which serves as qualifiers for the Olympics, Siasia’s
mother, Beauty, was abducted by gunmen at Odoni community of Sagbama
Local Council Area of Bayelsa State and forcefully whisked away on a
motorcycle. The 72-year-old woman regained freedom 12 days later after
pleas from Siasia and members of the family.
NFF queries Siasia
Last October, the NFF queried Siasia
over what they described as a “media outburst” after the coach publicly
accused the federation of neglecting his U-23 team, with a month to the
Olympic qualifying tournament in Senegal.
Siasia said the NFF owed him match
bonuses, allowances and his three months’ salaries, adding that he
should not be blamed if the team failed to qualify for the Olympic
Games. But the NFF officials, who were “highly embarrassed” by Siasia’s
comments, issued him a query, demanding to know why he should not be
sanctioned.
Coach faces the sack
The future of Siasia as coach of the
team was however left hanging in the balance as angry officials set out
to sack the ex-international.
Angered by Siasia’s outburst in the
media, the federation reportedly contemplated deploying Salisu Yussuf
as the U-23 team head coach with Fatai Amao and Gbenga Ogunbote as
assistants, but Siasia held on like the proverbial cat with nine lives.
Playing without NFF logo
At the Africa U-23 AFCON in Senegal late
last year, Nike omitted NFF’s official logo from jerseys of the U-23
team, leading to insinuations that the kits were probably bought at a
sports shop as the details of the contract deal between the NFF and Nike
was largely kept secret from Nigerians.
Players threaten AFCON final boycott
The players threatened to boycott the
2015 U-23 AFCON final against Algeria in protest against their unpaid
allowances at the tournament in Senegal.
It took the intervention of the sports
ministry, whose officials flew to Dakar with cash in foreign
denominations, to restore parity just hours to the final victory against
the North Africans.
Dalung denies team
The U-23 team arrived in Atlanta early
in July without money as they prepared ahead of the Olympics. The
Atlanta 1996 gold-winning side and their 2008 counterparts, who won
silver in Beijing, had their trainings ahead of both Olympics in the US.
The present team according to their
coach, Samson Siasia, had to resort to begging to make ends meet, with
reports saying they played friendly games wearing different jersey
brands.
But the Rio-bound team were left to rue
their fate after sports minister, Solomon Dalung, distanced himself from
their Olympic preparations.
“That our U-23 team is suffering in the
United States is news to me because we do not know what they are there
for. Also we do not know who actually took them to the United States of
America. We are not part of the team’s trip to the USA; we were not told
about the trip, so what they are facing on their trip is not our
business,” Dalung stated.
Mikel’s $30,000 drama
Team Nigeria captain, Mikel Obi, who
joined the squad in Atlanta late on, reportedly donated $30,000 to the
cash-strapped Olympic team after the team had lamented the terrible
conditions they had been training. But the Chelsea midfielder dismissed
the reports, saying he didn’t give out any money to the squad.
Dalung sidelines Siasia for Mikel
While in Atlanta to visit the squad with
less than 48 hours to their opening game in Manaus, Dalung ordered
Mikel to take charge of the team, in an apparent move to spite coach
Siasia, who had complained bitterly in the media about the state of the
team and his unpaid five months salaries.
The minister stated, “There is no doubt
that the ministry was not considered while plans were being made for the
Olympic football team. Nevertheless, we shall intervene to remedy the
situation. I have appealed to the captain (Mikel) to assume control of
the team and restore sanity.
“For officials who decided to violate
the code of their profession and take to the media to secure cheap
blackmail, their conduct will definitely be measured with existing
rules.”
Squad stranded in Atlanta
The African champions were locked in a
race against time to make it to Brazil for its opening match on August
4, following a ridiculous mix-up that left the players stranded in
Atlanta.
The squad finally left the US on the
morning of their game, boarding a flight that landed in Manaus with just
hours to spare ahead of their Group B clash with Japan.
Mikel named Nigeria captain
The sports ministry’s announcement of
Mikel as Team Nigeria captain created yet another controversy, as some
felt that it was the duty of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, who are in
charge of the team, to do so. Some others also felt seven-time Olympian
Segun Toriola should have been given the honour of leading the country
in Rio.
Unknown national anthem
The squad arrived in Manaus just in time
for the game against Japan but the players stood transfixed and could
not believe their ears as the organisers played another anthem instead
of Nigeria’s. Reports say the mix-up was due to the non-submission of
the anthem by the Nigerian officials as a result of the late arrival of
the team.
Team missing at opening ceremony
Just as Mikel’s announcement as Team
Nigeria captain generated concerns in the media, so it did when the
England-based player and the U-23 team failed to show up at the opening
ceremony of Rio 2016, a day after they beat Japan 5-4. As captain, Mikel
was saddled with waving Nigeria’s flag during the ceremony; instead, it
was assistant captain, Olufunke Oshonaike, who did the job in his
place.
Padded team list
The team was also engulfed in a ‘padded
list’ controversy, after it was discovered that several unaccredited
players and officials of the squad abused the use of the Personal
Identification Cards (accreditation cards).
A furious Dalung then set up a three-man
panel to investigate the allegations on receiving the mail from Lenny
Abbey, Head of National Olympic and Paralympic Relations and Services
Committee, intimating him of the abuse of the cards by the team.
“I have asked the three men to verify
the players with official accreditation and remove the rest from the
hotel and camp so that we can report back to the IOC that we have
complied. Our football federation came with excess players and officials
but we have taken steps to rectify it. We don’t want any of our players
to be found in possession of the counterfeit PVCs,” Dalung said.
Dalung sends team members home
Dalung sent two players and three
officials of the team back to Nigeria on Monday due to the inability of
the sports ministry to continue to fund their stay in Brazil.
Those sent back were the two alternate
players Stanley Dimgba and goalkeeper Yusuf Mohammed alongside the
team’s media officer, Timi Ebikagboro, curator and the team coordinator.
They were sent packing from the Games and flew out of Brazil to Nigeria
on Monday night.
Dalung said eight — four players and
four officials – unofficially accredited persons had been with the team
since they left Atlanta for Brazil.
“The organisers of the Games, the
International Olympic Committee, are only responsible for 25 accredited
players and officials including feeding, flights and accommodation. We
have been carrying the rest along. In Manaus, we were forced to pay camp
allowances to the extra four players making 29,” Dalung added.
Team threaten boycott
The team, who skipped training
penultimate Thursday, also threatened to boycott their quarter-final
match against Denmark unless they were paid their outstanding allowances
at the Games, and the coaches also paid their five months salaries and
allowances.
Players denied allowances
To the disbelief of the players, Dalung
stated that the national U-23 football team were not entitled to match
bonuses in Rio on the eve of their defeat to Germany.
Dalung stated, “I spoke with the captain
of the team Mikel Obi and I explained to him that match bonuses are
only paid to players during the World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations but
not at the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. This is their first appearance
at the Olympics so the players may not know that they don’t pay match
bonuses at the Games.”
Dalung’s stance on Siasia’s salary
Dalung also caught the eye with his
handling of Siasia’s unpaid five months salaries, which almost led to
the team’s boycott of their last eight clash with Denmark.
He stated, “On Siasia, the federation
has admitted that they owe him five months salaries. He was owed before
he agreed to take the team to Atlanta, so making it an issue now after
qualifying for the quarter-finals is not in the interest of the
country.”
Siasia quit threat
Amidst all the troubles encountered by
the team, reports from Rio said Siasia had threatened to call it quits
midway into the Olympics. The coach was reportedly not happy with the
overbearing influence of Dalung and sports ministry officials, who he
felt were a distraction to his team.
Siasia, it was also learnt, was unhappy
over Dalung’s decision to sideline him in Atlanta while the squad
endured a torrid time ahead of their trip to Manaus.
Sao Paulo hotel drama
There was drama at the Sao Paulo hotel
of the national U-23 team just before the Denmark game, when the team
were prevented from leaving the hotel over unpaid bills of eight of
their unaccredited players and officials.
Siasia, was forced to wake up Dalung, as
tempers heightened in the hotel, with the hoteliers insisting on being
paid their money before the team would be allowed to leave the place.
Reports said Team Nigeria captain Mikel
Obi paid the hotel bills but Dalung denied the news, saying the ministry
and not the Chelsea man, paid the bills. However, the ministry later
admitted that Mikel had paid the hotel bill, which they refunded.
Players bar Dalung from camp
Ahead of the Germany game on Tuesday,
the players allegedly warned Dalung —now a regular face in their
dressing room — and his delegation to stay away from them during the
game, saying they were a distraction to the team.
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