Nigerian Olympic male football team popularly called the Dream Team kicked off their 2016 Olympic campaign in exhilarating fashion on Thursday as they beat Japan 5-4 with Oghenekaro Etebo grabbing a hat-trick.
The pulsating encounter which was held at the Manaus Stadium, in Brazil saw Coach Samson Siasia’s boys defy all odds to defeat Japan in the group B encounter despite arriving in Brazil just hours before their first game in the early hours of Friday.
Sadiq Umar opened the scoring for Nigeria before Shinzo Koroki replied with a penalty, but Oghenekaro Etebo got the first of his four goals in the 11th minute. The Asian team again replied through Takumi Minamino, but then Etebo scored three more goals to take Nigeria three goals clear.
However, Arsenal’s new signing Takuma Asano and Musashi Suzuki reduced the deficit with goals in the final 20 minutes.
Etebo completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot six minutes after the restart after Sadiq was fouled in the box. An incredible fourth goal from the striker put Nigeria 5-2 ahead in the 66th minute after some poor goalkeeping.
The Dream Team had hit the headlines earlier in the week when it emerged they would only arrive in Brazil five hours before the start of their opening match, but they showed no signs of jetlag.
The squad finally left American soil on Thursday morning, boarding a flight that would land in the western Brazilian city of Manaus with just hours to spare ahead of their Group B clash with Japan on Thursday (9 p.m. ET).
The Manaus police department said Thursday that it was looking into measures to get the team to its hotel or the stadium, as quickly as possible. A police escort “is one option we are looking at”, a spokesman said.
The team’s delay, according to multiple reports from journalists following the team, was caused by a payment mix-up between the Nigerian sports ministry and a charter airline company.
Nigeria now top group B and will face Sweden on Sunday while Japan will face Colombia.
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