Nigeria will look to emulate Nwanku Kanu’s Under-23 class of 96 which won Gold at the Atlanta games. The African champions are the only African team left in the competition after South Africa, and Algeria finished at the bottom of their respective groups. The Dream Team VI put up commanding performances in their first two games winning 5-4 against Japan and beating Sweden 1-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals.
However, they lost their final game 2-0 against Colombia after their Coach Samson Siasia experimented with five changes to the team. It was a safe gamble considering they had already secured a spot in the next round.
Siasia insisted the changes were not because they undermined any team as he spoke to NFF, he said, “I had to take this decision because we have qualified for the quarter-finals as group leaders. Secondly, I need to rest some of the starters because in the next phase there is a possibility of going into extra time.”
Wise move from Siasia.
The Nigerian team finished top of group B and will face a tricky Denmark side in the quarter-final which beat them 6-2 in June. Nigeria might be without their star player of the tournament Oghenekaro Etebo who picked up an injury in the game against Colombia.
The team will look to the experience of John Obi Mikel in the midfield who was impressed by his younger comrades after they beat the European Champions Sweden.
He tweeted, “proud of our young team, excited for the future.”
The Schedule
Quarter-finals
August 13th
Portugal vs. Germany
Nigeria vs. Denmark
August 14th
SouthKorea vs. Honduras
Brazil Vs Colombia
Semi-finals
August 30th
Winner QF4 vs. Winner QF3
Winner QF2 vs. Winner QF1
3rd Place play-off
August 20th
Losser SF1 vs. Losser SF2
August 20th
Final
Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2
Featured Photo: The Dream Team VI Cerebrating One of Their Goals in The Olympics.(Photo by TV360)
