A member of Nigeria’s gold medal-winning men’s football team at Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games, Abiodun Obafemi has blamed the country’s absence at this year’s edition on lack of merit in the selection of players.
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After watching Morocco defeat Argentina 2-1 on the first day of men’s football action at Paris 2024, while Egypt, Guinea and Mali struggled to eke out results, Obafemi admitted in an interview with sports247.ng that it was a sad moment of football for him.
He took his mind back to 1996 Olympic Games, when the original Dream Team went all the way to gold in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, then lamented that the current set of players lack commitment because most of them are selected through a faulty process.
The former defender, who made top marks while playing in Germany and France at the club level, moaned, “Honestly, it’s so disturbing. This is something that is no longer funny.
“I don’t know why people who are supposed to be concerned are no longer bothered by this sad situation.”
Abiodun Obafemi then reflected on the past, as he urged national team coaches and top shots of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to avoid shady deals in the selection of players.
He added in the interview with sports247.ng: “Let’s go back memory lane and remember that, during our days, we did not just qualify as one of the best under-23 teams in Africa, we went all the way to win the gold medal in Atlanta.
“The reason we achieved it was because the majority of us that played in that squad were the very best legs around in those days.
“I don’t know why players nowadays no longer rely on their talents. They now rely on who they know. They prefer to try their luck in the national team, rather than go there on merit.
“Honestly, this approach has not been working well for us. Majority of the players that are being selected for the national teams, both under-age and senior, are not based on merit.
“It is based on who you know, who you are connected to, or who your club owner knows. That is the main reason why things are not working well for us at the national team level.
“You can see that even the senior national team is struggling, despite the fact that most of the players that are invited for assignments are based outside the country.
“It’s because they do not have the hunger that we had in those days. Honestly, I don’t know where it began to go wrong for Nigeria.”
Obafemi concluded by suggesting a solution, as he interjected: “The best thing we need to do is that we should try and make sure we put our heads together.
“I am not talking about the officials that are supposed to be in charge. We, the stakeholders, have to meet.
“Maybe we should form a pressure group that will keep those people in the football house and our coaches on their feet.”
He reckoned that down-to-earth talks among people involved in Nigeria’s football system, aside from administrators of the game, could turn things around for the better.
