ACOG - News - IBM

(31 July 1996; Day 12)

Gold Medal Opponents Set for Men's Olympic Football

Nigeria's Nwankwo KANU celebrated his birthday one day early. The soon-to-be 20-year-old scored the tying and winning goals Wednesday night as Nigeria shocked gold-medal favorite Brazil 4-3 in overtime. KANU, who turns 20 on Thursday (1 August), helped Nigeria overcome a two-goal deficit in the second half to upset the co-favorites.

"It was absolutely fantastic," said KANU regarding his "golden goal" 4 minutes into overtime. "One of the greatest moments of my life."

The much anticipated match in men's Olympic football between gold medal co-favorites Argentina and Brazil will not be a reality on Saturday, 3 August. Instead, Argentina will face an aggressive Nigerian team which is making its first gold medal game appearance. Meanwhile, Argentina is making its first Olympic gold medal round since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, where they lost to Uruguay.

Saturday's showdown will match two skillful, quick teams.

Hernan CRESPO, a lanky 21-year-old striker, is Argentina's scoring threat and future for its World Cup hopes in 1998. CRESPO scored both of Argentina's goals against Portugal during Tuesday's semifinal, putting him on top of the scorers list for the Olympic tournament with five goals in five matches.

"The most important thing is that Argentina wins the gold medal," said CRESPO following the semifinal win. "That I score the goals is not important."

Nigeria's strong suit is its aggressive offensive attack, led by KANU and Augustine OKOCHA. Nigeria ran an unrelenting offense on Wednesday that outshot Brazil 18-13. KANU and OKOCHA each have two goals to their credit during the Olympic tournament.

"Argentina is very much like Brazil, and we know that we can beat them," said KANU regarding Saturday's gold medal matchup.

"We are very happy to be in the finals," said teammate Victor IKPEBA. "As you know, anything can happen in the finals."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Mike Mead.


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