Rio Olympics Draw: Samson Siasia Says Nigeria Will Progress From Group B

Head coach of the Nigeria U23 national team, Samson Siasia, has said that Nigeria's chances of progresseing through to the knock out stage of the 2016 Olympic Football Men's Tournament is high,

Nigeria, who won the men's edition of the championship in in Atlanta in 20 years ago in Atlanta are

in Group B alongside Sweden, Colombia and Japan, and the coach has vowed to prepare well for the battle ahead.

The African U23 champions will face Sweden who are European U21 champions, Japan are Asian champions while Colombia finished runners up to Argentina in the South American tournament.

"The group will be difficult but it is fair enough for us to qualify from if we prepare very well for the competition. I am confident we will qualify from the group,"

"Like I said, all the teams are tough there are no more easy teams to beat . It's all about good preparation."

"We hope to prepare very well for the tournament and treat all teams equally with respect and map out our programmes and strategy. I am sure of qualification from the group with hard work from us."

Nigeria will open her campaign against Japan on August 4 at the 41,000-seater Arena da Amazonia in Manaus. Sweden and Colombia will play the group’s first game.

"Japan has come of age in this kind of tournament and they can spring up surprises if they are underrated. So we need to work hard on and off the pich of play and know that this is a battle that must be won to qualify from this group. I am sure of the talents we have home and abroad but the players must be ready for the tournament," he said told Goal

Men's Olympic Football Tournament Rio 2016

Group A

Brazil
South Africa
Iraq
Denmark

Group BSweden
Colombia
Nigeria
Japan

Group CFiji​
Korea Republic
Mexico
Germany

Group DHonduras
Algeria
Portugal
Argentina