Nigeria's hopes of Olympic gold were dashed by superior opposition at the Arena Corinthians

According to Christopher Nolan’s classic ‘Inception’, in order to escape ‘Limbo’ - the deepest dream level possible - one must enter consciously, and be aware (s)he is dreaming. Without this, one might become trapped, convinced of its reality and unable to wake again in the real world.
It helps then that Nigeria’s journey, which had started to border on unreal, ended when it did.

Had Samson Siasia’s charges somehow made it through to the final against the host nation, one might have been tempted to doubt the stability of this reality. Here is a team that arrived to the tournament literally hours before its opening game, had to down tools at one point due to unpaid allowances, and was missing two of its most influential players.

Yet, only 90 minutes separated them from a dream gold medal match against Brazil, the nation that served as unwilling stage-hands for Kanu’s magnum opus in Atlanta two decades ago.

Instead, it will be Germany who face Brazil at the Maracana over the weekend, and deservedly so.

The ease with which they dismissed Nigeria in Sao Paulo bordered on disdainful, mocking any prior expectations to the contrary-this was simply a good team going up against a substantially better one. Football, when you whip off the affected drama and glitzy showmanship, really can be this simple.

We gave everything last night but luck wasn't on our side. We will keep going for bronze, to make Nigeria proud pic.twitter.com/yxqvfIGThN— Mikel John Obi (@mikel_john_obi) August 18, 2016
Naturally, there is no completely inevitable outcome in life or football; even defeats are distinguishable by degree and manner.

A third division clubside from the Central African Republic might be powerless to prevent defeat to Barcelona, for example, but it can avoid humiliation to some degree.

For all their dominance on the ball and superior organization, Germany cut it fine somewhat with regard to the scoreline. Ordinarily, one might even say a 2-0 loss was not so bad, except when you consider that they genuinely looked like they would have their way with the African champions at certain points in the opening quarter of an hour.

Interestingly, Horst Hrubesch’s side seemed nonplussed by the ease with which they were cutting through this Nigerian side, and perhaps lost their sense of purpose a bit. The human mind needs obstacles in order to maintain focus;

failing this, it will invent its own difficulty:
the flicks and backheels became a bit too indulgent late in the first half, and the easy pass was not played quite as urgently.

That said, for all of the German superiority, both teams contribute to a result.


Being without two players as influential as Oghenekaro Etebo and Azubuike Okechukwu was always going to be a huge ask, but it was exacerbated by just how disappointing their direct replacements were.

Not to say that their presences would have altered the result here - I'm inclined to belive it would not have made a difference - but Ndifreke Effiong is many things (literally); however, to expect him to replicate Azubuike’s distribution from deep was laughable. Similarly, Aminu Umar, for all the apparent excitement with which he was received in Manaus, was the letdown of the competition from a Nigerian perspective.

It does bring up the issue of Nigeria’s squad composition, which was highlighted before the tournament, as well as the clarity of Siasia’s thinking. When you lose a key player on whom your entire system hinges and for whom there is no close approximation, then a slight change of system is entirely non-negotiable.


It was painful to see Sadiq Umar complete 90 minutes, and yet when a change was needed to alter the game, it was pocket rocket midfielder Soliu Popoola who scampered on.

Precisely why I wanted this. #Ngrstruggling to defend half-spaces, and Mikel receiving ball high and with markers on his back. #football— Solace Chukwu (@TheOddSolace) August 17, 2016
Umar continued his steady slide in performance, and often got in his own way even.

There is some talk this team does not play to his strengths by being direct, which is an amusing point of view concerning a player who stands at 6ft 5in, and also misses the point that he squandered Nigeria’s best chance of the game, one on one against Timo Horn.

His usefulness to this team expectedly dwindled, but there is a fine player in there, and the raw materials are good; he will only get better under the watchful eye of a coach like Luciano Spalletti at Roma.


Amidst all the questions though, one thing is clear: Siasia has done marvelously to get the team this far to begin with. For a coach who emphasizes expressionism over structure, it is even more remarkable. It is typically the sort of ethos you would expect to work with great individual talents; no disrespect to this crop, but aside the fabulous Mikel John Obi, the quality across the board was not the highest.

A pipe dream gold may have been, but Rio 2016’s football tournament was not quite the nightmare it could have been, all things considered.