NIGERIA U23 - DENMARK U23: DREAM TEAM FACE TRICKY QUARTERFINAL CLASH

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."

Manchester United transfer news: Jose Mourinho asks Youri Tielemans to join him at Old Trafford

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is looking at the possibility of signing Anderlecht midfielder Youri Tielemans, the player's former teammate Lukasz Plonowski has revealed. The 19-year-old has been in impressive form for the Belgium club and is one of the brightest prospects in Europe.
The teenager came up through the ranks of Anderlecht's youth system and made his way into the first team in 2013. His form saw him receive a call from former Belgium manager Marc Wilmots for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Wales last year. However, he did not feature for his national side.

Tielemans has been voted as the Belgian young professional footballer of the year on two occasions in 2014 and 2015. Plonowski, who played with the midfielder at Anderlecht's youth teams, has revealed that Mourinho is looking to bring Tielemans to Old Trafford.

"Youri called me up recently and said: Lukasz, do you know who called me? Mourinho. He asked if how I'd take the possibility to move to Manchester United," Plonowski told the Polish publication Weszlo.
Tielemans played under Besnik Hasi from 2014 to 2016. The latter remains confident the midfielder has a bright future ahead of him and admitted the Belgian was put under a lot of pressure to get the best out of him.

"Players of 18 who play almost all the time do not grow on trees. It's to be expected for someone of his age," Hasik explained, as quoted by Goal.

"We've put him under a lot of pressure. Even if he's already a champion, who has played in a cup final and who has Champions League experience, it's only the start of his career."

The 20-time English champions have already completed four signings this summer, which includes a world-record signing of Paul Pogba. Should Tielemans move to United, he will be Mourinho's fifth signing of the current transfer window.

John Obi Mikel has just had an absolutely brilliant pop at Manchester United’s world record signing on Twitter…

John Obi Mikel has been a Chelsea player for over a decade. Let that one sink in. Although the midfielder has never really been a stand out player in the Chelsea squad, and rarely been a guaranteed starter, the Nigerian has managed to somehow remain in the squad while countless others of a greater ability and profile have come and gone.

In fact, if one was to look at the Blues’ 2006 squad, the only player who remains at the Bridge aside from Mikel, is John Terry – the club captain who has essentially been a stalwart in the Chelsea backline since 2002.

However the enigma that is John Obi Mikel has managed to survive in the Blues squad for such a lengthy period of time we’ll never really know but, the matter of fact is, he’s still there and today, he has reminded everyone of that with an absolute beauty.

As we all know only too well at this point, Paul Pogba recently completed a world record breaking transfer to Manchester United with many suggesting that the young Frenchman is destined to go on to one day, claim the Ballon d’Or.

Whether that comes to pass or not remains to be seen. However, for now, he’ll have to just get his head down and prepare himself to face the almighty talent that is John Obi Mikel.