At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, one of the greatest surprises in soccer history occurred as Nigeria, led by one of the greatest generations of players it has ever produced, won the gold medal by defeating Brazil in the semifinals and Argentina in the final, both teams featuring some of their near future biggest stars.
While soccer has been a part of the Olympic program since 1900 and officially since 1908 (note: it was included experimentally in 1900 in Paris and 1904 in St. Louis but no medals were awarded), the Olympic soccer tournament had never held similar importance for national teams as other international competitions. However, in 1996, Americans, who had hosted an unforgettable World Cup two years prior (the first ever in the USA), wanted to continue the sport’s growth in their country and with FIFA’s help, they aimed to elevate the event.
The participation of Brazil (the reigning world champions) and Argentina was already a major attraction, especially given the presence of several well-known players on their rosters. Brazilians, among others, brought Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo who were about to burst into stardom at the Spanish La Liga with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña respectively, Bebeto their most significant player after Romario at that time, their best defender Aldair and some players that made a name later in Europe like Ze Elias, Juninho Paulista, Flavio Conceicao and Savio (the last two soon became UEFA Champions League winners with Real Madrid).
Argentina also fielded their new generation accompanied by some prominent members of their senior team. Diego Simeone and Roberto Sensini had by their side Javier Zanetti who had just completed the first season of his legendary career at Inter Milan, Hernan Crespo who won the Copa Libertadores with River Plate that year and got transferred to Parma, Ariel Ortega who also left River but headed to Valencia to join Claudio Lopez, Roberto Ayala who departed River a year earlier to play for Napoli, Matias Almeyda who was another River player moving to Europe to play for Sevilla, while their squad also included names such as Marcelo Gallardo (River Plate) and Jose Chamot who was the third key figure from the senior Argentinian national team (note: Olympic teams consist of Under-23 national squads with the right to add three overage players to their roster).
So it seemed that the two major rivals would clash in the final for the gold medal but Nigeria unexpectedly emerged victorious. The Super Eagles, as Nigerians are nicknamed in soccer, were going through the best period in their history. In 1994, in their first appearance in the competition, they had been one of the surprises of the World Cup, reaching the round of 16. Earlier that year, they had won the Africa Cup of Nations, and in 1993, they had claimed the FIFA U-17 World Cup (note: Nigeria is the tournament’s most successful team with five trophies). In 1996, they made their debut at the Olympic Games. They defeated Hungary 1-0, Japan 2-0 with an own goal in the 83rd minute and a penalty in the 90th minute, and despite losing to Brazil 1-0, they advanced to the quarterfinals.
From there, they presented a completely different face, led by the 1995 UEFA Champions League winner with Ajax, Nwankwo Kanu (forward), who immediately joined Inter Milan, the top African player for 1994, Emmanuel Amunike (attacking midfielder), who transferred from Sporting Lisbon to Barcelona, Daniel Amokachi (forward) who moved from Brugge to Everton after the 1994 World Cup, and the protagonists of the journey to the round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup. Taribo West (central defender) who came from winning the double in France with Auxerre and a year later went to Inter Milan, the then 17-year-old Celestine Babayaro (left-back) who left Anderlecht for Chelsea in the summer of ’97, Tijani Babangida (attacking midfielder) who was acquired from Ajax, the captain and top scorer of the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Cup-winning team Wilson Oruma (midfielder), and a great trio.
Formed by Sunday Oliseh (midfielder) who played for Cologne before joining Ajax, Juventus, and Dortmund, Jay-Jay Okocha (attacking midfielder) who moved from Eintracht Frankfurt to Fenerbahce and then to Paris Saint-Germain, and Victor Ikpeba (forward) who helped Monaco win the French league in 1997 and was named the top African player before later playing for Dortmund. The three of them were included in the squad for the 1994 World Cup, with Oliseh being a starter in all matches and Okocha making two substitute appearances. Amunike and Amokachi were among the key players in the USA, as well as Uche Okechukwu (central defender), who was the third Nigerian player over 23 in Atlanta. Furthermore, in addition to Oruma, Kanu and Babayaro were also members of the U-17 team in ’93.
Therefore by combining faces from the best teams Nigeria ever had, they started making one surprise after another in the knockout matches. They defeated Mexico 2-0 in the quarterfinals thanks to goals from Okocha and Babayaro, sealing the victory six minutes before the end. In the semifinals, they achieved an incredible comeback against Brazil. In the very first chance of the match, Flavio Conceicao opened the score with a direct free kick, and despite Roberto Carlos’s own goal, the Brazilians were not discouraged. Bebeto gave them the lead again, and in the 38th minute, Conceicao scored his second goal to make it 3-1. The Seleção (Brazil’s nickname) theoretically was already in the final. With less than 15 minutes remaining in the game, the score remained unchanged until Ikpeba reduced it to 3-2 in the 78th minute. However, in the 90th minute, Kanu managed to equalize and send the game to extra time to become its ultimate protagonist.
You see, he scored the “golden” goal in the 94th minute (note: under the rules at the time, the first team to score in extra time won the game), giving Nigeria a 4-3 victory. Still, in the final, the favorite was Argentina, which had successively eliminated Spain (4-0) and Portugal (2-0) and only needed three minutes of play to take the lead with Claudio Lopez’s goal. Nigeria equalized in the 28th minute with Babayaro’s header but found themselves behind again after Crespo’s successful penalty kick in the 50th minute. From there, the Nigerian World Cup aces took action. Amokachi made it 2-2 in the 74th minute, and Amunike elevated Nigeria to the top of the podium in the 90th minute. The Argentine defense tried to catch him offside, but since the linesman didn’t raise his flag, he found himself alone with the goalkeeper and didn’t miss, shaping the final score to 3-2.
Due to their remarkable achievements, this Nigerian team was named the Dream Team, as at that time this nickname was very famous and had been established by the USA basketball team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when Americans lined up for the first time with NBA players, including some of the greatest names of all time. Nigeria may not have dominated the competition like the original Dream Team did in basketball, but they triumphed in the strongest Olympic soccer tournament ever held, making it the biggest surprise in the history of the event and perhaps the only Olympic gold medalist team remembered when discussing national teams that left a mark on soccer.
