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Rio Olympics: Three reasons Nigeria may suffer defeat against Colombia tonight

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Semi-Finals



Nigeria’s U-23 football team, fondly called the Dream Team VI, will tonight trade tackles with their Colombian counterparts at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

The match will be played at 11pm Nigerian time at the Corinthians Arena, Sao Paulo.

Below are three reasons the coach Samson Siasia tutored side may suffer defeat tonight:

-Plan to rest players:

The Dream Team VI are likely not going to play as a compact team like they did in the two matches they have played so far. This is because coach Siasia says he will rest most of his stars for Wednesday’s  football clash against Colombia.

This is understandable because the Dream Team have already qualified for the quarterfinals of the men’s football event as group winners as a result of the victories they recorded against Japan and Sweden.

Speaking ahead of the match, Siasia says it is imperative to rest important players ahead of potentially difficult matches in the knockout stages of the competition.

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“I had to take this decision because we have qualified for the quarterfinals as group leaders and secondly I need to rest some of the starters because in the next phase there is a possibility of going into extra time.

“For now the boys have done well. I need to make the other players justify why I selected them for this tournament.

“This is not a tea party, so everyone must stand up to be counted and the only way they can be counted is if they play well against Colombia. Resting some starters does not mean we are underrating the opposition,” Siasia was quoted as saying by the Nigeria Football Federation’s website, www.thenff.com.

Nigeria versus Sweden

Nigeria versus Sweden

– New match venue:

The Dream Team VI have been based in Manaus since they arrived for the Olympic Games. The Nigerian team played their matches against Japan and Sweden in the city. However, The Dream Team ended their memorable five-day stay in Manaus on Monday because the last group match against Colombia today will be played in Sao Paolo.

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São Paulo is a municipality located in the southeast region of Brazil while Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas is in the North Region of Brazil. Hence, the team had to move away from Manaus and they landed in Sao Paulo on Monday evening ahead of Wednesday’s final Group B clash with Colombia at the Arena Corinthians.

The coach Siasia team did not train since Sunday until Tuesday ahead of the meeting against the South American giants. As a result of the change of venue, many football analysts believe this may affect them when they play the Colombians.

But for a team that arrived Brazil less than 7hrs before their first match and still went ahead to win 5-4, it would not come as a surprise if the Dream Team VI come out victorious tonight.

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– Colombia’s must win match:

With two draws from their first two matches so far, Colombia are likely to need a positive result against the Dream Team VI to avoid an early exit.

Colombia, who drew 2-2 with Sweden and also with Japan, have shown that they know how to put the ball inside their opponents’ net. But their greatest undoing is that they also know how to concede cheap goals.

However, the fact that they are likely to be playing against Nigeria’s second team tonight might give them the edge against the dream team VI.

Meanwhile, Nigeria will meet the second placed side from Group A which could very likely be the hosts, Brazil, in the quarterfinals.

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