Samson Siasia's side hopes of progress comes under serious threat with injury to Etebo, which means they need a good replacement against the Danish's charges
Nigeria will face Denmark U23 in the quarter final of the Rio Olympics men's football event in Salvador without Oghenekaro Etebo.
The Dream Team VI advanced to the knockout stages finishing atop Group B with back-to-back wins against Japan and Sweden before they fell 2-0 to Colombia in their last preliminary game.
The African U23 kings who missed out of the 2012 Olympic seek to reach the semifinal for the third time, but must subdue the Europeans hoping for a last four spot for the first time in 96 years.
The match at Fonte Nova Arena is the second between the teams in the space of two months, Emil Larsen netted three times ensured Denmark thumped Nigeria 6-2 in the Suwon tournament in South Korea in June.
“When you make too many changes, it won't work the way you expected,” says Siasia.
“Going into the knockout stage, that's a different ball game. If you lose, you go home, so all those mistakes we have been making mostly in the backline have to be corrected.
“We didn't do a good job on the Colombian forwards. We really have to work harder on our defending.
"In the first half, we had a couple of good chances and Etebo had a very good one that he should have scored. But one good thing about him is that he always put himself in good positions.
“He didn't score today; that's football. Hopefully, in the next game, we can convert our chances and defend better."
No comments:
Post a Comment