The Dream Team VI slumped to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Colombia at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics in the early hours of Thursday morning although the result mattered little as they still qualified for the next round as leaders of Group B.
The Colombians took the lead in the fourth minute through danger-man Teófilo Gutiérrez who found space behind the Nigerian defenders and simply tucked the ball past Daniel Akpeyi to score his third goal of the tournament.
The Nigerians looked shocked but they rallied and from that moment on, they had the lion’s share of the ball possession but they could not create any clear-cut opportunities to score as the Colombians rebuffed their attacking moves quite easily.
Despite Nigeria’s dominance in midfield, it was the South Americans who continued to threaten to score and Akpeyi was called into action on more than one occasion to keep the scores at 1-0 going into the break.
In the second half, Nigeria continued to press and after some good work by Popoola Saliu, they had two corner kicks in quick succession but they were poorly taken and ultimately wasted.
The Colombians soon grew into the game and started to create some chances of their own. In the 60th minute, they were awarded a penalty after Akpeyi fouled Harold Preciado in the penalty area which also got him booked. Dorlan Pabon converted from the spot in the 62nd minute to double the lead for the South Americans.
Colombia had yet another great opportunity in the 73rd minute to put the game beyond the reach of Nigeria but Preciado could not convert with Akpeyi completely beaten.
Nonetheless, Siasia’s men never really threatened to score at any point in the second half so the two goal advantage was enough for Colombia to secure passage to the knockout phase of the men’s football event at the Olympics for the first time ever.
