The team won the Olympic gold 20 years ago in the 1996 Olympic Games and were aiming to recapture that moment, Black said. Takumi Minamino took a weighted pass in stride towards goal and swiftly slotted the ball through Nigerian goalie Daniel Emmanuel’s legs.
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Chibuike Ogummah, a secondary school games Master, said U-23 team beating Japan had sent a strong signal to countries in group “B” and other teams participating in the tournament that Nigeria was a force to reckon with. “All the players playing on this team know this is their livelihood and they have been overly anxious to get to Rio”. The clock is ticking for the team to get to Brazil ahead of time.
Nigeria’s financial problems are nothing new.
Oghenekaro Etebo, now playing in Portugal with Feirense, was the man of the hour, scoring four goals, with Roma striker Umar Sadiq grabbing the other.
Nigeria’s lead was restored in the eleventh minute by Etebo.
Japan equalized three minutes later from the penalty spot but Etebo Oghenekaro gave Nigeria the lead again just a minute later after being set-up by Shehu Abdullahi.
Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi captained Nigerian team during their clash against Japanese side held at Arena da Amazonia.
Japan were on the end of some misfortune six minutes into the second half, when Tsukasa Shiotani was whistled for a questionable penalty, which Etebo hit past Kushibiki to complete his hat-trick.
He added that everyone in the NFF was “disturbed” by the situation because Nigeria’s first game against Japan in Manaus is so soon.
Four-goal hero Oghenekaro Etebo has dedicated his goals to God after an awesome performance from the Feirense man.
At the restart of the game, Nigeria took control of the game once more and posed a serious threat every time they ventured forward.
Japan never gave up and in the fifth minute of injury time substitute Musashi Suzuki curled in his shot from the top of the area after cutting in on his left foot.
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While Siasia cherishes the win, he said he and his players had shifted focus to Sunday’s match against Sweden.
