Rio 2016 Olympics: Our qualification an act of God, says NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has commended the Dream Team VI for picking one of the African tickets for the 2016 Olympics football event scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Mohammed Sanusi, the NFF General Secretary, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, that the team’s Olympics qualification was in line with the federation’s desire to take the country’s football to the next level.

Sanusi described the Dream Team’s 1-0 defeat of host Senegal in the semi-final encounter as an act of God.

“We give glory to God for this victory; we are also grateful to the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Nigerians for their prayers and support for the team.

“The NFF is happy with the qualification and I know that members of the public are happy too.

“ We did not qualify the last time after we were eliminated by Equatorial Guinea; we thank this team because they have made us proud,’’ Sanusi said.

The NFF scribe said that plans would be intensified to ensure the team got the best preparation for the Olympics proper.

“When they come back, the coach is expected to submit his training programme which will be sent to the technical committee for the members to look at and of course we will start in earnest.

“This is because when you prepare well, you have prepared to win but if you are lagging behind in preparation, then you are preparing to lose.

“So, we are going to prepare very well for this Olympics,’’ he said.

Sanusi assured that the team would play top quality friendly matches as part of preparation for the Olympics.

He said: “ the team will move into camping and if there is any possibility of beefing up the team, the coach will do so.

“From local camping the team will embark on foreign camping where they will play quality friendly matches before the Olympics.

“We did it the last time and it paid off; we have lined up quality friendlies and by the time they come back, we will decide the way forward.

The NFF general secretary pointed out that the NSC was very much aware of its obligation to the team and would do everything possible to motivate the players ahead of the games.