Cape Town – Nigeria’s Olympic football team are facing a race against time to travel to Manaus, Brazil after being left stranded in Atlanta, USA.
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The whole debacle stems from the Nigerian Sports Ministry not organizing the team’s transportation from Atlanta to Manaus, the location of the team’s first match.
The Super Eagles, as the team is known, were stranded in Atlanta for days amid a freaky saga that saw flights cancelled because of missed payments and because a plane was too small, before eventually taking off on the morning of the game.
So, seeing as there’s no GB football team to support this year, let’s all get behind Nigeria.
“We couldn’t go into Rio with 14 people and another 14 people”.
“We are understanding of the seriousness of having the team arrive on time for the match”, Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The good news for Nigeria is the new plane is said to have luxury accommodations, so at least it will be a comfortable flight. Reports have also stated that Delta paid for accommodations for the team last night. The aircraft is the same one that will fly the USA men’s basketball team back to the states after the Games wrap up in two weeks.
THE disastrous showing of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) continued as the Team Nigeria outfits could not make it to the opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
However, the #StrandedDreamTeam is still at their hotel, with the players all still in their rooms.
Nigerian football has been roiled by financial issues of late.
“All of this I didn’t ask for, but they responded quickly”.
Nigeria’s next game is against Sweden on Sunday at 6pm in Manaus while Japan duels with Colombia at 9pm at the same venue. The Japanese quickly found the play and passes they needed in order to get passed the Nigerian defense. Mr. Jinadu and others are hoping for a repeat.
While already looking ahead to the Sweden game, Siasia had pleasant words for his players who he dubbed miracle workers for their performance against the Japan team.
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Etebo gave Nigeria the lead again just before the break, this time picking up a pass unmarked in the box. That trip was integral to bringing them here, he said.
