93′ FT: Nigeria 0 – 2 Germany. The European giants play Brazil in the final. Nigeria will fancy their chance for Bronze against Honduras.
90′ GOALLLL! Sub Petersen taps home from close range after he was fed nicely by Selke. Germany just may have sealed a place in the final. Three minutes of added time to be played.
85’ SUB to Germany! Meyer OUT, Petersen IN
81’ Amuzie blaze it well high. He has been very disappointing in this game.
80’ YELLOW CARD! Matthias Ginker is booked for a foul on Ajayi. Nigeria has a freekick in a good position.
76′ YELLOW CARD’ Lars Bender goes into the referee book for a foul on Mikel who does well to shrug him off.
75′ SUB for Germany! Sven Bender OUT, Christiansen IN, Gnabry OUT, Philip Max IN
74′ CHANCE! Gnabry cuts inside again and shoots but his effort is blocked this time.
72′ SUB Nigeria’ Udo OUT, Popoola Saliu IN
70′ Into the last 20 minutes of the game. Nigeria still struggling to create chances. It’s been a disappointing outing for the African champions.
65′ SUB Nigeria’ Disappointing Sadiq Umar OUT, Junior Ajayi IN
63′ Mikel hits the side net from a free-kick. He tried the spectacular there.
60′ The Nigerian fans in the stadium still singing and charging their team.
READ ALSO:Old woman allegedly caught with a dead baby in Lagos (photos)
READ ALSO:Old woman allegedly caught with a dead baby in Lagos (photos)
58′ HALF CHANCE! Gnabry shoots wide again from close range. He has been dangerous in this game.
56′ Too many tackles in this game. Germany with ten fouls to Nigeria’s seven.
54′ It has been Germany with better possession and chances in the early stage of the second half. Nigeria have to step up their game to fancy their chances here.
50′ CHANCE! Gnabry again drives forward and plays a defense splitting pass to Selke, the tall striker rounds goalkeeper Daniel but shoots wide from a very difficult angle.
47′ BIG CHANCE! Serge Gnabry cuts in and shoots but goalkeeper Daniel makes a fine save to deny him.
46′ Germany get the second half underway
45+1′ HT: Nigeria 0 – 1 Germany. Remember Brazil await winner of this game in the final!
44′ SO CLOSE! Aminu Umar is played through on goal but Matthias Ginter produces a last minute tackle to deny the pacy winger a shooting chance. One minute of added time to be played.
40′ Into the last five minutes of the game. Germany still pressing for a second but Nigeria continue to absorb the pressure.
36′ FINE SAVE! Selke is fed quite well at the left flank and takes a snap shot which goalkeeper Daniel gathers really well. The Germans finding too much space in Nigeria’s defence.
32′ At the other end, Gnabry is played through on goal but Goalkeeper Daniel rushes out of his line to thwart the danger. Quick thinking from the Enugu Rangers man.
31′ WHAT A CHANCE! Imoh Ezekiel does well to beat his marker at the left flank and plays a nice ball onto the path of Umar whose first touch lets him down. The tall striker recovers quickly to play in Mikel who drives pass two Germans easily and shoots but his goal bound effort is blocked. Best chance for Nigeria in this game.
28′ OFFSIDE’ Linesman flag is up after Selke is played through on goal.
25′ Amuzie with a poor ball from the left after Nigeria managed to string passes together for the first time in this game. Disappointing!
22′ The Germans looking really sharp with their attack, Nigeria sitting deep trying to absorb the pressure.
20′ From the free-kick, Daniel produces a fine reflex save to deny Lars Bender a goal. That was close!
19′ YELLOW CARD’ Udo is booked for a foul on Gnabry. Free-kick to Germany
17′ FACT: That goal from Klostermann was Germany’s 20th goal in the competition. Sharp!
15′ The Germans have been dangerous going forward, Nigeria finding it hard to gain possession of the ball.
12′ WHAT A MISS! Nigeria go so close to getting an equalizer after an howler from Horn. The Germany goalkeeper miscue his pass to Umar who played it straight at him when he had Mikel free on goal. That was selfish play from the Roma forward.
9′ GOALLL! Klostermann taps home from close range after Meyer beats the offside track to make the pass.
6′ Both teams beginning to settle into the game after a jittery start. Nigeria flagged offside on two occasions in the space of one minute.
4′ YELLOW CARD! Gnabry goes into the referee book for a foul on Imoh Ezekiel who did really well to beat him on the right hand flank.
3′ HALF CHANCE! Danger man Gnabry is played through on goal but Ekong sticks a foot to deny him a shooting chance.
2′ Mikel concedes an early free-kick for a foul on Meyer. That didn’t go down well with the fans here in Sao Paulo.
1′ Nigeria get the game underway. The winner of this game plays Brazil in the final as the hosts defeated Honduras 6-0 in the other semi-final. Nigeria putting on the white jersey for the first time in the tournament.
The teams list are out and this is how both teams file out. Etebo is on the bench for Nigeria.
Nigeria XI: 18. Emmanuel Daniel, 2. Muenfuh Sincere, 4. Abdullahi Shehu, 6. William Ekong, 7. Aminu Umar, 9. Imoh Ezekiel, 10. John Obi Mikel (C), 13. Sadiq Umar, 15. Ndifreke Udo, 16. Stanley Amuzie, 17. Usman Muhammed
SUBS: 1. Daniel Akpeyi, 3. Kingsley Madu, 5. Saturday Erimuya, 8. Oghenekaro Etebo, 11. Oluwafemi Ajayi, 12. Popoola Saliu
Germany XI: 1. Timo Horn (GK), 2. Jeremy Toljan, 3. Lukas Klostermann, 4. Matthias Ginter, 5. Niklas Suele, 6. Sven Bender, 7. Maximilian Meyer (C), 8. Lars Bender, 9. Davie Selke, 11. Julian Brandt, 17. Serge Gnabry
SUBS: 12. Jannik Huth (GK), 13. Philipp Max, 14. Rober Bauer, 15. Max Christiansen, 16. Grischa Proemel, 18. Nils Petersen
Germany got into the Rio Olympics tournament for the first time since 1988 and will try to go all the way to the final.
However, the star-studded team has to survive their semi-final match against surprise team of the tournament Nigeria on Wednesday, August 17, at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo.
Nigeria was not expected to reach this stage by pre-Olympics predictions after they were included in a tough Group B against strong teams Colombia, Japan, and Sweden.
Things got really bad for the team as players and officials were stranded for three days before being airlifted by American Delta Airline to Manaus, venue of their first group game against Japan, just hours to the game.
But according to team’s captain, John Obi Mikel, the problem in Atlanta, made the team stronger.
John Obi Mikel
He said: “It was a bit frustrating coming down here, but while we were in Atlanta we knew that we had a good shot at getting to the final or winning the tournament.
“With the problems we have had getting to this stage, it is just absolutely amazing and we just have to keep going.’’
The Dream Team VI defeated Japan and Sweden 5-4 and 1-0 respectively, before losing their final Group B game to Colombia 2-0. They defeated Denmark to secure a semi-final ticket for today’s showdown.
On the other hand, Germany are the highest scoring side at the Olympics. They have scored 19 goals, conceding just five.
Their star man, Serge Gnabry has scored six goals in four matches and will hope to drive his country on to the final.
Serge Gnabry celebrating a goal with his teammates
The Arsenal youngster is the highest goal scorer at the Olympics, scoring in every game the Germans have played (the only player to have done so).
The team drew with Mexico to open its tournament before tying Korea Republic 3-3. In its final group game, the team managed 10 goals against Fiji in a 10-0 win. But that was nothing compared to the team’s 4-0 thrashing of a solid Portuguese side in the quarterfinal.
Nigeria has been excellent in this tournament, so have the Germans. This should be the more entertaining of the two matches of the semi-finals. Although, Nigeria’s highest goal scorer Oghenekaro Etebo is still doubtful for this one, the African champions will fancy their chances against the European giants.
Comments
Post a Comment