Mikel, Aminu On Target As Nigeria Beat Denmark To Qualify For Rio 2016 Semifinal

Dream Team VI of Nigeria cruised into the semifinals of the 2016 Rio Olympics courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Denmark at the Arena Fonte NovaSalvador on Saturday night.

Samson Siasia settled for the first team he had relied on at the tourney with the only change being Umar Aminu in for the injured Oghenekaro Etebo.

The overall winners of tonight’s affair knew that a salivating tie with Germany in the semifinals of the competition was on the cards.

The Germans thumped Portugal 4-0 in the first quarterfinal earlier today.

Nigeria and Denmark clashed in an invitational tournament in South Korea in June 2016 with the Danes 6-2 winners.

African champions Nigeria won Group B on six points, while Denmark finished runners-up in Group A with four points

It was a bright opening ten minutes for the African champions, but they didn’t make their dominance count.

The Europeans were on the verge of netting the first goal of the game in the 11th minute but the bar wasn’t fair to them.

 A dipping volley by Kasper Nielsson crashed against the bar, with goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel well beaten.

Four minutes later, the African champions drew the curtain raiser. Skipper and Chelsea star Obi Mikel latched on to a cutback by Imoh Ezekiel to score.

Ezekiel should have done better with his final delivery after he went on a solo effort as Nigeria pressed for the second goal. His shot wasn’t clinical enough after ghosting past his marker at the left hand side.

Denmark then had their best chance of the first half. A top reaction save by goalkeeper Daniel kept out a goal-bound header by Frederick Borsting.

Another top drawer by Daniel kept Nigeria’s lead intact. Frederick poked the ball on target which didn’t deceive the Enugu Rangers goalie.

Stanley Amuzie whipped a bullet which took a wicked deflection in the 38th minute.

It was an entertaining first 45 minutes with Nigeria enjoying a bright start and they deserved their goal, but Denmark fought back and forced two big saves from Daniel.

Nigeria continued to pile the pressure on their opponents, just as they did early in the first half.

In the 54th minute, an unconventional save by Daniel from a free kick proved crucial for Samson Siasia’s side.

Some minutes to the hour, Amuzie saw his shot scuppered for a corner kick by goalkeeper Jeppe Hojbjerb.

From the resultant corner, Umar scored for Nigeria with a header off Mikel’s delivery.

Denmark tried to push forward more in a bid to pull a goal back, but their efforts was in futility.

The victory came at a price for Nigeria as Azubuike Okechukwu will miss the semifinals clash against Germany due to suspension.

Igho Kingsley