Nigeria’s Under-23 team have qualified for the football event of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil after beating hosts Senegal 1-0 in the semi-final of the CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday.
The goal from Oghenkaro Etebo from the penalty spot gave Nigeria the win over the Senegalese team at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium and booked them a place at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Nigeria will now play Algeria in the final match of the competition on Saturday while Senegal will battle South Africa in the third-place match for a chance at the third spot in Rio. Algeria beat South Africa in the second semi-final on Wednesday. The top three teams at the tournament will represent Africa at the Olympics.
The Nigeria U-23 team will return to the Olympics after they failed to qualify for the 2012 edition of the event in London. The Austin Eguavoen-led team fell out in the group stages of the 2011 U-23 AFCON with one of the losses coming from Senegal.
An excited Siasia said, “I’m very happy to win against Senegal again after the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992 and achieving our objective, which was to qualify for the Olympics. I think the ‘gods of football’ were with my team today because Senegal created most of the chances but they failed to score.”
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