Nigerian football legend AustinJay-Jay Okocha has reflected on the difficult journey the Dream Team endured before winning the country’s historic football gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
Speaking in an interview, Okocha said the triumph was made even more special because of the challenges the players overcame behind the scenes.
He revealed that the team faced financial difficulties while camping in the United States, with the Nigerian Football Association allegedly failing to pay for transportation, accommodation and feeding.
According to him, the players were forced to eat the same meal of rice, sauce and chicken for lunch and dinner for about a week, while some members of the squad even used their personal bank cards to pay for the team’s accommodation and rented minivans to keep the camp running.
Recalling the experience, Okocha said:
“It is special to me because of what we went through. People only see the end product, but they don’t really see the process.
“We were in camp in America and we woke up one day, our training coach was gone, the bus that we had was gone. They took it with the spare key because the Nigerian FA hadn’t paid.
“For like a week, the hotel were giving us the same meal. It was just rice and sauce every day… with chicken. When we asked why they weren’t changing the menu, they told us we should be glad we were still there because they had not been paid for the food and accommodation.
“A few of us had to bring our cards and pay for the accommodation and then went and rented minivans to stay in camp. It shows the desire that we had.”
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