Leadership (Abuja)
Salifu Usman
27 March 2008
Nigeria's Olympic team, Dream Team IV yesterday at the Abuja National Stadium booked their place at the 2008 men's Olympic football tournament in Beijing with a 3-0 smashing of their South Africa counterpart.
Olympic Marseille of France left wing back, Taye Taiwo put Nigeria ahead in the 25th minute of the first half with a powerful header, after he saw his previous two efforts denied by the South Africa goalkeeper.
Nigeria ,who were before the match two points behind Ghana who have already completed their campaign, needed an outright win over the bottom table placed Amaglug-glug of South Africa to finish ahead of their West Africa arch rivals, Ghana as the group winners to be in Beijing and they put everything into the cracker to secure all the important three points.
Coach Samson Siasia's boys pushed forward their lead in the 30th minute of the second half after a solo effort from the team captain, Isaac Promise forced a South Africa defender to put the ball into his own net.
Everton of England striker, Victor Anichebe, who was over looked by former Super Eagles' manager, Berti Vogts in a call-up to the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana wrapped up the victory for Nigeria with just one minute left on the added time, to the delight of Nigerian fans who tripped in their thousands to cheer the team up.
With the victory, Nigeria now finished as the group winners with eight points ahead of their close rival, Ghana who are second with seven, while South Africa finished last with one point from four matches.
Nigeria is now joining Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon who had already qualified in their respective groups to represent Africa at the forthcoming Beijing Olympic football event in China.
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