Fatai Amoo Says Dream Team VI Can Repeat '96 Wonders

Nigeria first defeated Brazil in a competition in the United States of America and went ahead to become the first African country to win the Olympics gold medal in the men's football category.

Also, in the early hours of good Friday, Nigeria's Dream Team Six stunned the Brazilian U23 team by 1-0 in Brazil, in a test game as both teams continue their preparations for the forthcoming

Olympic games in Rio this summer, and the coach of the side, Fatai Amoo, said that the performance of his boys furthers shows that winning the African U23 championship wasn't a fluke.

The former Shooting stars of Ibadan manager added that the team can really go to Brazil and repeat history twenty years after winning the first medal in Atlanta by winning gold at the Olympics in Rio come August this year.

"The first half was very difficult for us, but then it is expected, having in mind that we scored an early goal and as such it was expected they would come all out against us to get the equalizer, but I must give my boys a lot of credit for holding their own.

"The boys did a great job if you recall that 80 percent of the boys we brought here were just meeting one another for the first time, and we needed to see all of them in match situation. I’m happy we have seen them and this is hopiing that as we play more friendlies, we would discover more players that will compete for jerseys before the Olympics proper.

"No doubt, our goalkeeper (Emmanuel Daniel) kept us in the game with a number of great saves before he was substituted. Even the substitute (Yusuf Mohammed) also did his bit. All in all, some players like Ezekiel Imoh and Sodiq Popoola were outstanding and I am happy for the team." 

Brazil, who are yet to win Olympics football gold, created the better chances, but they either failed to put them away or goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel and his defence were resolute in keeping them out.

Ubong Ekpai fired the match winner for Nigeria off a rebound after just four minutes, when Imoh, who was a thorn in the flesh of the Brazilians went past his marker and his resultant pull out saw Popoola hitting a shot that rebounded for Ekpai to score.

Thereafter, Brazil threw everything at Nigeria, coming close in the 19th minute through Felipe Anderson and on 27 minutes, when Alisson’s angled header crashed against the crossbar 

Turkey-based Nigeria defender Musa Mohammed was booked in the 16th minute, for stamping on a Brazilian midfielder.‎ For the second half, Brazil made three changes, throwing in Wallace, Clayton and Wendell.

Clayton threatened the Nigerian goal just two minutes after his introduction, but goalkeeper Daniel was alive to his responsibilities. Malcolm and Andreas Pereira of Manchester United were also brought on but they just could not get past the Nigeria backline. ‎

‎Nigeria made four changes, which saw Victor Osimhen come in for Taiwo Awoniyi, Junior Ajayi for Ekpai, Amaefule Chizoba for Keigo and Sincere Seth for Ovbokha