Did you know? Nigeria and Cameroon have become Olympics champions!

The year was 1996 and the football team of Nigeria headed for The Olympics in Atlanta. The expectations were that Brazil or Argentina will win the tournament. And that was normal, because players like Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Bebeto, Crespo, Ortega and so on were among the participants in the prestigious tournament.
The Nigerian footballers started well and beat 1-0 Hungary in their first group game. Nwankwo Kanu scored beautiful goal after one-two passing just before the half time and that remained the only goal of the game. Two days later, on 23rd July 1996, The Super Eagles met Japan, which team was their main concurrent for taking a place in the quarter finals. Nigeria eventually won 2-0 after late goals, scored by Babangida and Okocha.
After already being qualified for the next round, Nigeria lost 1-0 to Brazil, after Ronaldo’s goal in the 30th minute of the match. In the quarter finals, the Nigerians recorded a confident 2-0 victory over Mexico and had to play again against Brazil, this time in the semi-finals.
And that was the Super Eagles’ first real test. They were 1-3 down, when 12 minutes before the final whistle Ikpeba found the net. Then, in the very last second of the match Kanu equalized 3-3! The ex Arsenal’s forward was lucky to score a golden goal in the 94th minute and sent Nigeria in the final.
The final game was even more dramatic. Nigeria was 2-1 down to Argentina. The minute was 74th. Amokachi scored! 2-2! Could you believe it? Then, in the 90th minute Argentinian defence tried to put Nigerian forwards in the offside trap, but the linesman didn’t mark the offside and Amuneke scored the winning goal. Nigeria became the new Olympic champion!
4 years later, in 2000, Cameroon were among the participants in the Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The Indomitable Lions had the same difficult task. After proceeding from their group, they beat 2-1 Brazil in the quarter finals with golden goal, scored by M’Bami in the 114th minute. Then, Cameroon were lucky to win against Chile in the semi-finals. Ivan Zamorano and his teammates missed tons of clear goal-scoring chances and eventually were punished by Mboma and Lauren, who turned things around and secured the victory for The Lions.
In the final, Cameroon were 2-0 down to Spain, but in the second half the referee sent off two of the Spanish players and The Lions were back in the match after Amaya’s own goal and Etoó’s equalizer. The match went to penalties and it was definitely not Amaya’s day, who hit the woodwork and sent the trophy to Cameroon.
So, these two tournaments are the example that everything is possible in football. Even if the weakest team is meeting the strongest…