25 March 2008
Lagos — Captain of the epoch making Dream Team I, Nwankwo Kanu has arrived to throw his weight behind the latest Dream Team's attempts to make this summer's Olympic Games.
The Portsmouth star arrived Lagos Sunday night barley 24 hours after featuring in Pompey's 2-0 loss to Spurs at White Hart Lane.
Kanu, who guided the original Dream Team to the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, said he had to plead for time off from training with Portsmouth because of the importance he attaches to the game against South Africa.
"I believe it is only proper that I give my total support to the team, especially as I was part of the original team that won gold for the country in Atlanta."
He also pointed out that it was also proper that Nigeria ensures they make the Beijing Games since it will be another chance to show the world how good footballers we are.
"Only last year we triumphed at the U-17 World Cup in Korea so its only proper that we build on that achievement by not only qualifying for the Olympics but also doing well," said the former Arsenal star, who incidentally was also a member of the gold medal winning Japan'93 Golden Eaglets squad.
'Papilo', as the lanky player is fondly called, is billed to hit Abuja tomorrow morning in order to spend some time with the players before the match. He will, however, be leaving immediately for the airport in order to return to England in order to catch up with training with his team mates before the weekend's Premiership fixture against Wigan.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
