Delta Air Lines Inc. offered a chartered flight early Thursday morning to get the “Dream Team” to its first Olympic match in Brazil in the nick of time.
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Delta said it got a call late Wednesday and initially determined it couldn’t accommodate the team on regular flights without displacing other passengers. His first shot was saved but he quickly pounced on the rebound to score his second goal of the night.
There are conflicting reports about how the team ended up in this position. Tweets from the team’s media director appeared to show the Nigerian team had finally landed in Brazil Thursday afternoon just hours before they’re scheduled to play. The contest was evenly matched in the opening stages, with honors remaining even following a frantic opening burst that produced four goals in 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, the four goal -hero in the 5-4 victory of the Nigeria U-23 team against Japan, Oghenekaro Etebo has said his target is to help the team win the gold rather than pursuing the highest goal scorer award.
But the celebrations had barely died down when Japan struck back, forward Shinzo Koroki sending goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel the wrong way in the ninth minute after Stanley Amuzie was adjudged to have fouled an opponent.
Oghenekaro Etebo has insisted he is not after personal glory and is only interested in leading Nigeria to winning gold in men’s football at the Olympic Games.
Etebo netted his hat trick from the penalty spot five minutes into the second half when Umar was brought down in the box to double Nigeria’s lead. At that time all Manus spectators were just amazed with such a thrilling game.
Takuma Asano pulled one back with 20 minutes to go, and Musashi Suzuki narrowed the gap to one deep into injury time.
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To him, it’s all a part of the reason the Nigerians came here in the first place: Atlanta is a city that is continues to welcome the world, grow as a soccer city and capitalize on its Olympic legacy. In perhaps the wildest game of the day, Nigeria emerged victorious over Japan 5-4.
