Tag: Olympic Eagles

For the first time since making her debut at the Olympics at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics and winning it. Nigeria will be facing the Amaglug-glug at this stage.

A win against South Africa will guarantee the team an opportunity to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics, while a loss means no hope for the team.

Olympic Eagles who lost their first group match to Ivory Coast, understands the implication of not winning. The duo of Nigeria and South Africa will meet at the Al Salam Stadium on Friday in Egypt.

South Africa who currently top the group with four points, are trailed by Nigeria who are with three points.

The only times Nigeria U-23 football men team failed to qualify for the Olympics was at Barcelona 1992 , Athens 2004 and London 2012 Olympics.

They qualified for the Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. Interestingly, they won three different medals out of the four times they appeared. At the Sydney 2000 they exited at the quarterfinal stage.

By doing this Nigeria became the only country in the world to win the three Olympics medals for men football, which consist of gold (1996), silver (2008) and bronze (2016).

The Olympic Eagles must therefore soar when they meet South Africa on Friday. No nation can win the Olympics without first qualifying for the global event.

Coach Amapakabo whose side came from behind to secure an impressive victory against Zambia in their second group match must build the boys psyche for victory.