Head Coach of the
Nigeria Olympic team, Samson Siasia has appointed Chelsea midfield ace John
Mikel Obi as captain of the team going into the men’s football tournament of
the 31st Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Making the
announcement on Saturday while meeting with players and other officials, Coach
Siasia said the choice of Mikel Obi was automatic as he is the captain of the
Super Eagles and also the captain of Team Nigeria to the Games.
"It's just
natural for me to pick Mikel as our captain. Aside the fact that he is the
captain of the Super Eagles, he is also Team Nigeria captain, so after meeting
with both of them and explaining my position, I am pleased to say Azubuike who
has been our captain understood and was happy to hand over the captain’s band
to Mikel.
"It is a thing
of joy for my team to produce the first footballer to captain Team Nigeria to
the Olympics. This, to me, is more than gratifying."
The players
unanimously accepted Mikel Obi as their captain and expressed delight at the
role he has been playing since he joined the team. On his part, Mikel expressed
joy at being made the captain of the Dream Team and said he sees it as an honor
that must yield result in Brazil.
Meanwhile, the
Nigeria U23 will now depart Atlanta, United States of America for Brazil on
Monday, 1st August.
The earlier arrangement was for the team to
depart for Brazil in batches due to difficulties in securing seats for team,
but the Nigeria Football Federation decided against that movement and is now
thinking of either getting them to Brazil as a team or chartering a private
plane to take the team directly to Manaus, venue of the first team’s first
match.
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