Rio 2016: How Nigeria can defeat Sweden

– Mikel should make his presence felt more in the midfield

– The defense line should be at maximum concentration

– Attacking with strength will force the opponents to commit blunders

Nigeria will go head-to-head against Sweden in their second Group B game at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics.

Mikel tried to power his way past a Japanese player in Nigeria’s first match

Samson Siasia’s side managed a 5-4 win over Japan despite arriving Manaus, venue of the match, hours before the game.

Sweden on the other hand played a 2-2 draw with Colombia in their first match.

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Although, the European team have not been consistent in Olympics games as their best outing was in the year 1992 when they were knocked out in the quarter finals by Australia in Barcelona.

Many pundits are of the opinion that the Mikel Obi-captained side will not perform well in this football event considering how their preparations have been studded with controversies, but the team showed promises in their first game.

Against Sweden in Rio, Nigeria have all what it takes to beat the Swedish national team considering the players the Dream Team will parade in this duel.

Sweden have a star studded team with Alexander Milosevic who plays for Beskitas, Turkey, Abdul Khalili who plays in Mersin idmanyurdu, Turkey and Astrit Ajdarevic who plies his trade with Orebro SK in Sweden, the three players are the over aged players selected by coach Hakan ericson.

Others include Ken Sema, Mikael Ishak, Simon Tibbings, Muamer Tankovic and Alexander Fransson among others.

Sweden and Nigeria have met twice in competitive stages and the Swedish were winners in those occasions, the first in 1994 when they beat the Super Eagles 3-1 in a friendly and 2002 world cup edging Nigeria 2-1.

Nigeria’s defenders must also be cognisance with the fact that their opponents’ attacking style is deadly as their last couple of friendlies shows that Sweden is a scoring and attacking side.

They have played 3 friendlies and they drew one against Norway, won two (3-1 Vs Hungary) (2-0 Vs Costa Rica)  with at least 2 goals margin in those two they played.

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Chelsea experienced midfield maestro John Obi Mikel will surely steer the wheel in the midfield together with Oghenekaro Etebo, Imoh Ezekiel and Usman Mohammed.

Upfront, the Nigeria’s Under 23 team will count on Oluwafemi Ajayi, Imo Ezekiel, Kingsley Madu and Aminu Umar.

The match against Sweden will be played on Sunday, August 7, by 11pm (Nigerian Time).

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