Nigeria soccer victory

Nigeria soccer victory

Aug. 4, 1996, was my happiest day in Jakarta. Nigeria, my
motherland, won the gold medal for soccer at the Atlanta
Olympics. This is the first time in history that the Olympic
soccer gold medal was won by Africans amid domination by European
and Latin American countries.

Our victory over Argentina in the final match was a surprise,
because the West portrays us as jungle people, poor and hungry.
If we are defeated by non-African teams, it is no surprise
because we are from the jungle. If we win, it becomes a big
surprise for our rivals who are prone to ask: "How can jungle
people defeat us? How can black people emerge victorious?"

A good example of this fact is the awful behavior of some
soccer extremists in Brazil who threw explosives at the Nigerian
embassy in Brasilia to give vent to their anger over Brazil's
defeat to Nigeria in the semi-finals.

As long as other people continue to look down upon us, God
willing, more shocks are on the way. One should not forget that
the West African state of Cameroon reached the quarter-finals in
the 1990 world cup soccer competition and that George Weah of
Liberia was elected the best footballer on earth for 1995.

In athletics East Africans, mainly Kenyans and Ethiopians,
have booked numerous successes over the years.

I just heard that some developing countries now send their
people to Africa in the name of tourism but the real aim is to
discover the secret of our success in sports.

BUHARI ABDU

South Jakarta