SAN FRANCISCO, August 04, (THEWILL) – Dream Team VI, the Nigeria U-23 football team to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, finally jetted out of their camping base in Atlanta after delays over flight payments.
The team was still stranded in Atlanta last night after last minute efforts to pay for a chartered flight failed while arrangements was said to be in full gear to dispatch a Presidential Jet to airlift the team from Atlanta to Manaus in Brazil.
It was revealed that Delta airlines has agreed to fly the team, which is an estimated 7 hours journey, with jet-lag issues being considered, just hours before its opening match against Japan.
Nigeria, who won gold in the Olympic football event in 1996, are logged in Group B alongside Japan, Colombia and Sweden.
The Nigerian team will play Japan in their first match which will be early morning on Friday in Nigeria.
Curiously, the team faced the same challenge 20 years ago as the Dream team 1 arrived Atlanta behind schedule for the 1996 Olympics games after a travel mix up, but went ahead to win the football tournament.
Same Atlanta Airport, same country, same team, same event, will the result be exactly the same?
Story by David Oputah
