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Super Eagles soarinto men's soccersemis

Nigeria defeated Denmark 2-0 in a quarterfinal matchup

Nigeria put two goals past Denmark to secure a spot in

the semifinal round of the 2016 Olympic men’s soccer

tournament.

The Super Eagles got off to a flying start in the opening

minute of a thrilling first half, asking questions of

Denmark’s goalkeeper, Jeppe Hojbjerg. A blocked cross

from the right wing found the left foot of Usman

AP

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John Obi Mikel

Emmanuel Daniel

Imoh Ezekiel

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August 13, 2016 at 5:08pm CT

By:Eric Goodman

John ObiMikel

Age 29 |Birthdate 4/22/1987

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Age 22 |Birthdate 12/17/1993

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Muhammed for Nigeria, who challenged but could not

beat the Danish number one.

In the tenth minute, Casper Neilson nearly responded

with the goal of the tournament. Seven yards outside the

penalty area, the Danish midfielder received a lofted

pass, chested the ball directly down to his right foot and

fired a volley off the crossbar nearly 25 yards away.

Then, on the stroke of 15 minutes, Nigeria’s star man and

captain John Obi Mikel put the Super Eagles ahead, 1-0.

Imoh Ezekiel, dribbling the ball down the left wing,

outpaced his Danish defender and curled a low cross six

yards in front of goal. Mikel’s left foot guided the ball

into the side netting, past Hojbjerg for the score.

Less than two minutes later Eziekiel nearly doubled the

Nigerian lead himself, demonstrating tremendous skill to

again beat his mark and chip the ball just over the

crossbar.

Later in the half, Nigeria’s goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel

was called upon to make a pair of spectacular saves less

than a minute apart, both against Danish striker Jacob

Bruun Larsen. First, Bruun Larsen found the end of a

lofted cross and headed it towards the top corner. Daniel

stretched full-vertical to just poke the shot over the bar.

After the ensuing corner kick, Bruun Larsen received a

through-pass in the box but again could not direct the

ball past Daniel.

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Denmark seemed destined to equalize before halftime.

Then once again, in first half stoppage time, Daniel used

every inch of his tall frame to punch an Edigerson Gomez

header over the bar and secure the one-goal Nigerian

lead as both teams walked to the dressing rooms.

The second half started in much tamer fashion than the

first, but picked up in the 58th minute when Hojbjerg was

called upon to save a powerful strike from Stanley

Amuzie, earning Nigeria a corner kick.

John Obi Mikel took the corner, sending an in-swinging

cross beautifully in front of the left-side near post.

Aminu Umar capitalized off poor marking from the Danes

to head the ball into the back of the net, doubling the

Nigerian lead.

Nigeria defended their way through the remaining 30

minutes – rather unconvincingly in one or two instances

– but held the clean sheet to set up a semifinal

encounter with Germany.

The only tangible setback the Super Eagles encountered

in the match came in the 80th minute, when midfielder

Okechukwu Azubuike earned his second yellow card of

the tournament, disqualifying him from the Aug. 17

semifinal match.

South Korea will meet Honduras at 6 p.m. ET this

evening, followed by a tantalizing tie between Colombia

and hosts Brazil at 9 p.m. ET to decide the other

" Remind Me

Nigeria tops Denmark 2-0 inquarterfinals

semifinal matchup.

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