Bonfrere Jo: Why Nigeria won gold at Atlanta ’96

Bonfrere Jo, former head coach of Nigeria U23 team, says determination, fearlessness and hunger for success were the reasons Nigeria won gold in football at 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

The Dutchman, who led a squad of talented footballers to gold in the US and became the first African side to ever achieve the feat at the games, gave the reasons while speaking with reporters on Thursday in Abuja.

TheCable had earlier reported how the 75-year-old arrived in Nigeria to celebrate the silver jubilee of that historic triumph of the team.

The team, which comprises Kanu Nwankwo, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, steamrolled all the big footballing nations in its path to achieving one of the greatest feats in international football.

They fought their way back to victory twice — against Brazil and Argentina in the semi final and final respectively — to achieve that feat.

Speaking further, Jo recounted how he psyched up the players before the matches to boost their morale and how responsive the footballers were.

“We worked very hard in all our training sessions. They (1996 Dream Team ) all had a winning spirit, they were not scared of the giant teams they were going to face,” he said.

“They defeated Brazil, Argentina who had a good set of players in their teams and we conquered them, because of the determination in each player.

”I told them before their games that you have the gold already in your hands; are we ready to release it and they said no; that was the spirit that motivated them in their matches.

“They were not ready to release the gold to another country which made us to win the gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.”