Senate President Bukola Saraki has urged Nigeria\u2019s Dream Team V1 at the ongoing Rio Olympics Football games to work assiduously towards getting the gold medal because only the best is good for their determination, resilience and display of soccer skills.
\nThe Senate President also called on Nigerians to borrow a leaf from the indomitable spirit of the nation\u2019s football team and always display patriotism even in the face of challenges to make their country great.
\nIn a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja yesterday, Saraki who specifically commended the superlative performance of the U-23 Eagles so far, in spite of the initial hiccups, said, \u201cthe resilience, determination and winning streak of the Dream Team V1 in the men\u2019s football event at the Rio Olympics excite me and rekindle my hope that Nigeria can once again get the coveted gold medal like we did in Atlanta, in 1996.
\n\u201cWith the focus and team spirit we have seen in your games so far, we are upbeat that we can repeat the 1996 Atlanta feat. Therefore, I urge you not to settle for less. I look forward to a resounding victory in your semi-final encounter against Germany tonight.
\n\u201cWith positive attitude and determination, we shall surmount our present socio-economic challenges as a nation. The Under- 23 Team has demonstrated our innate capacity to rise above challenges and achieve success. This season calls for the can-do-spirit. Let every Nigerian come together and pray for this team to win the gold. Our prayers should also be extended to other athletes who are still competing in the games.
\n\u201cAgain, from now on, all Nigerians should come together and act as one football team in bringing development to our country, respecting the law, patronising our locally made products, striving for the best for our country, shunning vices, making patriotism our badge of honour and showing that we are proud to be Nigerians and ready to bear the burden and benefits of our citizenship.
\nThe Dream team is faced with the tough task of edging out an impressive Germany team tonight to reach the final and battle for gold medal.
\nThough the semi final contest is expected to be difficult and closely contested, both Coach Samson Siasia and Captain Mikel Obi have said that their ultimate target is the Olympic gold medal.
\nMikel\u00a0 restated the\u00a0 team\u2019s resolve to win Olympic Gold 20 years after the original Dream Team recorded such a feat in Atlanta, just as he was refunded the cash he paid to free the team from a Sao Paulo hotel.
\n\u201cWe are all very excited reaching the semi-finals but the ultimate is the gold medal and as the coach has said, we are still taking it one match at a time,\u201d said captain Mikel, who scored Nigeria\u2019s first against the Denmark for Nigeria to go on and win 2-0 and qualify for the last four.
\n\u201cMy objective here, as with each of the other players, is to win the gold medal.\u201d
\nThe Chelsea star revealed they have tried to put behind them all the drama and controversies that have surrounded the team lately.
\n\u201cIn truth, there have been a lot of challenges, but every time we go onto the field, we forget about everything and make sure our fatherland comes first,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe have done that so far and we will continue to do that, but we need more motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senate President Bukola Saraki has urged Nigeria\u2019s Dream Team V1 at the ongoing Rio Olympics Football games to work assiduously towards getting the gold medal because only the best is good for their determination, resilience and display of soccer skills. The Senate President also called on Nigerians to borrow a leaf from the indomitable spirit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/134529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}