Siasia upbeat but fears Manus heat at Rio Olympics

by Staff Reporter

Friday Apr 15, 2016. 20:46

Nigeria Olympic team coach Samson Siasia has said he expects to steer his team past a group that has Japan and Sweden at the Rio Olympics but has also raised concerns over the heat in Manus, where his team will play their first two matches.

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Siasia said he expects Nigeria to reach the knockout rounds of the Rio Olympics from “a fair enough group”.

He guided Nigeria to the Gold medal match at Beijing 2008 and said he believes a wining start against Japan on August 4 will set the tone for another great campaign.

“I am targeting a convincing win in our opening match. Japan won’t be easy, but we need to beat them well to take command of the group,” he said.

“The win will give us the confidence for the matches against Sweden and Colombia.”

However, he said he is apprehensive about the heat in Manus, where Nigeria will play their first two matches.

“The only difficulty I foresee is the hot weather in manus for our first two games,” he said.

“All the same, that can’t stop us.”