Beijing 2008 - Nigeria crush Belgium to reach final

Eurosport - Tue, 19 Aug 14:03:00 2008

Nigeria thumped surprise package Belgium 4-1 to reach the Olympic final for the first time since winning the tournament 12 years ago.

FOOTBALL 2008 Beijing Olympics Nigeria Striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi - 0

Striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi scored twice in the second half after Olubayo Adefemi had given the exuberant but erratic Africans an early lead.

Chibuzor Okonkwo completed the rout while Victor Anchebi sidefooted wide with the goal at his mercy for arguably the worst miss of the competition.

Belgium, surprise winners over Italy in the quarter-finals, were on equal terms for the first hour but then fell apart.

The Olympic tournament is restricted to under-23 teams with three overage players permitted per side.

Nigeria, publicly criticised by coach Samson Siasia for lack of discipline earlier in the tournament, went ahead in the 17th minute when Okonkwo's shot hit a defender and fell nicely into the path of Adefemi who stroked the ball home from 12 metres.

Solomon Okoronkwo wasted another Nigerian chance when he broke clear of the Belgian defence but shot across the face of goal.

Then Peter Odemwingie turned the ball wide after Ogbuke Obasi slipped past his marker with some clever stepovers.

Belgium made a lively start to the second half with Faris Haroun blasting the ball against the crossbar and Tom De Mul forcing Ambruse Vanzekin to make a difficult save in successive attacks.

Nigeria increased their lead in the 59th minute when substitute Anichebe rolled the ball into the penalty area and Ogbuke Obasi slipped the offside trap to sidefoot home.

Long-range goals from Ogbuke Obasi and Okonkwo doubled Nigeria's tally in the last 20 minutes before substitute Laurent Ciman rifled a late consolation for Belgium.

Reuters

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  1. NIGERIA MUST GO ALL THE WAY.....A REPEAT OF THE MIKEL­ OBI AND MESSI SAGA SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED....A WIN IT­ MUST BE, WE DONOT HAVE TO SETTLE FOR SILVER.... GO FULL­ STEAM NIGERIA AND BRING BACK THE GOLD

    From ijitjx, on Tue 19 Aug 8:27PM
  2. i have sent three rich comments now they­ invalidated.what kind of erratic and exuberant site is­ this?

    From franklin b concience, on Tue 19 Aug 7:39PM
  3. Nigerians & reasonable people around the world need­ not worry about the foolishness and idiotic reasoning­ of AGGY(WHATEVER HIS NAME IS);it's as a result of­ the reasoning ineptitude of the so-called EUROSPORT­ that led to the employing of stone-aged reporters­ literally unfit to commune in a modern world: Bravo­ NIGERIA... at least we'll get a medall thus­ awakening me from the trauma of seeing just one­ man(PHELPS) from the great U.S.A. clear 8 gold­ medals... More gold expected from Phelps and Nigeria­ will get the gold, at least in men's football.­ NUGA,London.

    From havimikenuga, on Tue 19 Aug 7:32PM
  4. A British/Jamaican girl advising another­ Bitish/Jamaican girlfriend on her impending trip to­ Nigeria to visit with her Nigerian boyfriend family -­ "be careful what you say in Nigeria, the littlest­ thing provokes a reaction of "you are insulting­ me". So this reporter says erratic Africans big­ ffing deal! They say ten times worse things about their­ own teams. I read too many comments from­ 'complexed' people here. Like this idiotic­ comment from Dubem "this is excellent at least we­ have succeded in deporting the Belgians as they use to­ deport our people from there country­ "Racists" serves them right" Shame no­ catch you? N2billion + to get one gold (and i hope we­ win) and that's your idea of teaching them a lesson­ - how small your mind.

    From Second S, on Tue 19 Aug 7:08PM
  5. This reporter should may be go back to school. His­ "paradox "erratic but exuberant africans was­ not neccessary. There was no point in the match where­ there was such opposite extremes. Watch your use of­ words sir. Congratulations to the nigeria teams. You­ guys still have no iota of respect for us after all­ these years, but do not worry we are going to earn it.

    From folarin o, on Tue 19 Aug 6:59PM
  6. This reporter should may be go back to school. His­ "paradox "erratic but exuberant africans was­ not neccessary. There was no point in the match where­ there was such opposite extremes. Watch your use of­ words sir. Congratulations to the nigeria teams. You­ guys still have no iota of respect for us after all­ these years, but do not worry we are going to earn it.

    From folarin o, on Tue 19 Aug 6:58PM
  7. i am sure that mr aggie is still drunk from the­ quantity of shine shine bobo he took to wash down our­ victory. by tommorrow morning when he is sober he will­ realise that a computer with internet connection is not­ a typewriter that you can just type rubbish on.i am­ sure if the journalist who wrote that story could reply­ him he would beg him not to misinterpete him or twist­ his comment.the journalist said erratic and he is­ reffering to this tournament not past tournaments.can­ someone explain that to a certain mr aggie in his­ native dialect.

    From franklin b concience, on Tue 19 Aug 6:55PM
  8. I must say i'm disappointed in eurosports bt i­ don't blame dem we r clearly not d britz not­ withstanding Nigeria made a wonderful outing against­ Belgium, dat's wat matters. Proud of y'all wat­ ever d out come on sat

    From Janet, on Tue 19 Aug 6:50PM
  9. Mr Aggie...Are u talking about another­ tournament,another team?Because if you understand the­ concept of reporting,you ll know that the riter is­ reporting in the context of this tournament.Or are you­ going to foolishly say the dissapointing Argentins­ because of their last world cup performance.Its not­ always nevessary to leave a comment if you are not used­ to the process.try and be literate.

    From Tunde I, on Tue 19 Aug 6:33PM
  10. i'm sorry but maybe you guys should open your­ eyes????? wasn't nigeria 'erratic' during­ the african cup and the commonwealth games?? maybe you­ naija peeps should go back to the past before you blame­ the writer for anything.

    From Aggie, on Tue 19 Aug 6:26PM
  11. Lets not get ahead of ourselves guys.This is not­ confirmed racism.Its biased reporting(for some unknown­ reason).Thank God the writer was not the referee for­ the game.Maybe he would av found it necessary to give­ the "erratic Africans" red cards for being­ "erratic".Was that what he took out of that­ game?Did the foolish writer mention anything about what­ the commentators described as the save of the­ tournament?If anyone at Eurosport watched the match­ "drunk",I can send a taped copy by post.

    From Tunde I, on Tue 19 Aug 6:13PM
  12. Sports, especially the Olympics should be deviod of­ politics. Today nigeria was the better side by far. The­ press should be bold enough to say so and commend­ them.
    Emeka Amadi

    From netsyscomms, on Tue 19 Aug 6:01PM
  13. Siasia, May God continue to Bless you, now Mikel Obi­ and the rest should cover their face and walk in shame.­ Mikel, you have forgotten that the country made you,­ and i pray that you realize what you did to Samson­ Siasia and his boys.

    From Mufalilu B, on Tue 19 Aug 5:52PM
  14. GREAT BOYS!!!!!!!! this is excellent at least we have­ succeded in deporting the Belgians as they use to­ deport our people from there country­ "Racists" serves them right. For you guys­ super earglets, go ahead and bring the GOLD back to­ Africa and make us proud ones again.

    Dubem.

    From FunkyCutieBrat, on Tue 19 Aug 5:41PM
  15. I have been following then commentary on this site and­ I must say Eurosport is very biased against Nigeria and­ Africans in general. How can you call this performance­ as erratic? I had to go and check the dictionary to­ make sure I fully understand the meaning of­ "erratic". Anyway, the best footballers are­ from Africa, take it or not. There can be no EPL­ without African players.

    From Michael, on Tue 19 Aug 5:40PM
  16. i m disappointed wit ur comments about the nigerian­ football team throughout this olympics.u hve bn­ abiased,given wrong scores or none.u guys r­ racist.think i ll stop usin u guy, even on my tv at­ home.u r @#$%

    From ibe u, on Tue 19 Aug 5:35PM
  17. congrats !! to Dream team IV .but i beg the nigerian­ sprots adminisrators to pls sho more concentration­ other sports, as we can all see that Beijing olympics­ as so fer been our worst so far. Siasia, Kudos to you­ and your boys 1 again. the whole country is proud of­ you, Go for Gold ! From Lanre Ajala.

    From dazzlingdazzle2005, on Tue 19 Aug 5:30PM
  18. Imagine the article that would have being written if­ "team GB" with only the likes of­ walcott,young,agbonlahor(apparently nigerian) had gone­ into the finals of the Olympic football event.where are­ the articles on the backgroud of this unknown Nigerian­ players?Instead,some Jamaican born guy wins silver for­ UK in the high jump and it becomes the highlight on­ Eurosport/yahoo.

    From Tunde I, on Tue 19 Aug 5:27PM
  19. THE VICTORY SHOWS THAT WITH THE RIGHT SUPPORT OUR­ SPORTSMEN CAN DO WELL.SIASIA SOURCED FOR FUNDS FROM­ NOWHERE TO PROCCEED ON THE TRAINING TOUR(BEFORE THE NFA­ MET HIM WAS IT IN TURKEY OR WHERE WITH FUNDS) BEFORE­ THE OLYMPICS JUST BECAUSE OF HIS DEDICATION.the other­ athletes had little or no support from the sports­ ministry and that is why our boxers were fighting like­ praying mantis(without training,they were sent to­ beijing to commit 'suicide'),our athletes were­ running as if they had pile etc.nobody should blame the­ athletes only the administrators.as for the writer of­ this story although i am not happy about ur choice of­ word like erratic,i forgive you for using the word­ 'crush' to describe our victory.

    From franklin b concience, on Tue 19 Aug 5:20PM
  20. Oh Maaaan!...Erratic or Erroneous, Nigeria 4 -Almighty­ Belgium 1!!! It was fantastic and rather unexpected. I­ pray Almighty GOD to crown their efforts with the well­ deserved success. Go for GOLD Eagles and make Nigerians­ proud again..

    From Goddy, on Tue 19 Aug 5:11PM
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