Siasia’s team put up a spirited performance on Thursday (Friday in Nigeria), as they overcame a well-relaxed Japanese side in a nine-goal thriller to climb to top of Group B after Sweden and Colombia played out a 2-2 draw.
Oghenekaro Etebo netted four goals with AS Roma’s Sadiq Umar grabbing the opener as the latecomers cruised past their Asian opponents.
The African champions- who had a torrid time preparing for the Games- landed in Manaus few hours to the tie after flight hitches and incompetence on the part of sports ministry officials left them stranded at their training camp in Atlanta but shrugged off jetlag to romp to the top of their group table.
On getting to the venue of the game, the wrong anthem was played for the team by the organisers, with insinuations that the confusion may have been arisen due to the late arrival of the Nigerian team.
Siasia described their triumph as a miracle, ascribing it to the mental toughness of his players.
“I just can’t describe what happened today. My boys defied science to win this game; what gave us this game was the mental toughness of the boys. For a team not to train for two days and put up this type of performance is a miracle,” Siasia said.
“When players are tired they tend to lose focus. That is why we conceded four goals. For now, all I can say is I just want to go and savour this victory with my players.”
The coach said the team’s focus was on their next game against Sweden on Sunday after Japan had pushed his team to the limit.
He said, “We just won a game, we can’t and won’t allow this victory get into our heads. Our target here is to win the gold and this is just the first step of us achieving that aim. No two games are the same, for me this hurdle is over, when I wake up tomorrow I will then think of my next game.
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