Please, hail the magicians.

Our boys again showed the Nigeria spirit (Courage in the face of adversity

"WE SHOOK UP THE WORLD"
Exactly twenty years after the first Dream Team shook up the world by winning the Olympic gold medal for the fist time, their  successors, Dream Team VI, again shook up the world. They came from the valley to the surface, and grabbed the attention of all by sheer grit.

TREPIDATIONS
Nigerians had watched with trepidation as the noose seem to be closing around their favorite National Team, the Dream Team. First, it was the argument over whether they were permitted to go to Atlanta  to train. Then the embarrassment of being abandoned there, mere hours to the opening match against Japan.

The final nail was the less than  inspiring answer given by the Most Honourable and hardworking Minister of sports.

0-3 LOSS BY WALKOVER?"
It was like we were going to set another record: becoming the first nation  in History to lose an Olympic football match through a walk over. Trapped in Atlanta, while we were expected to meet a Japanese team that has been in Brazil almost two weeks previous. Yet no word from Abuja.

"MIRACLES ARE FOREVER"
It was at this point that, in the usual manner, a Deus  Ex Machina  made an appearance. Delta Airlines finally arranged an NBA plane to ferry the distraught players straight to, not Rio, but directly to the match venue. An upside to this extraordinary mix up is that the plane was more comfortable than the regular plane, since it is the one used to hop NAPLES to basketball games around the United States. The players were able to relax a bit ( lion hearts that they are) while the plane whipped them through the air at 800km/hour. So we made it to match venue with few  hours to spare.

Energetic Performance.
The Japanese, apparently remembering the 1996 experience, when we harvested their scalp on our way to Gold, meant to kill off any such thoughts. The first few minutes produced a ding doing of goals resulting in 4 goals, and a 2-2scoreline.  But then Nigerians ignored all the distractions, emotional and physical, of the last few days and fired on all cylinders to power to a 5-2 lead. Play all your life today, rest tomorrow.

Fatigue, and the tenacity of the Japs allowed them to pull 2 back for a 5-4 final scoreline. But the spiel has been laid: the word has been given : when Nigeria is your opponent,  anything can happen, don't look at our challenges, we overcome them to surprise all, including oirselves.

WE MUST CHANGE
The Success in the face of adversity is not to say that we should not hold people to account.  For instance, those responsible for the Atlanta debacle should be made to face the consequences of their incompetence, and our boys should be compensated for the trauma they went through at the hands of incompetent officials.

Nigerians, we should  stop taking incompetence from our civil servants who we are paying so much to.

Bayo.