By Rasaq Oboirien
NIGERIA'S quest for a second Olympic gold medal in the men football event was given a huge boost after a strike each from John Obi Mikel and Aminu Umar sent the Dream Team through to the semi-finals in Rio, reports NaijaSportsXtra.blogspot.com.
Nigeria who lost its final group b game to Columbia, defeated Denmark 2-0 at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador on Saturday.
The Siasia boys got off on a good start as Mikel showed why he's 'Captain Fantastic' when he scored and provided an assist for Umar.
Imoh Ezekiel was the danger man for his team in the absence of Etebo as his pace was too much for the Danes to contend with.
His fast dribbling skills paid off in the 16th minute after he ran past the Danish defence line to slice a pass through to Mikel who just needed to tap the ball into the net, to give Nigeria a first half lead.
As the game got to the one hour mark, Mikel's well taken corner kick beat the Danes defenders leaving Umar to jump highest to nod the ball into the net.
Nigeria who was the first African team to ever win gold in the football event will tackle Germany who beat Portugal 4-0 in one of the semi-final games billed for Sao Paulo on Wednesday.
