Nigeria U-23 head coach Samson Siasia says he will rest players for Wednesday’s 2016 Olympics football clash against Colombia.
Nigeria have already qualified for the quarter finals of the men’s football event as group winners following successive victories against Japan and Sweden. The Coach explained his decision was to help keep the players in proper shape ahead of the knockout stages of the event.
“I had to take this decision because we have qualified for the quarterfinals as group leaders and secondly I need to rest some of the starters because in the next phase there is a possibility of going into extra time.
“For now the boys have done well. I need to make the other players justify why I selected them for this tournament. “This is not a tea party, so everyone must stand up to be counted and the only way they can be counted is if they play well against Colombia.
Resting some starters does not mean we are underrating the opposition,” Siasia was quoted as saying by the Nigeria Football Federation’s website, www.thenff.com. Nigeria will meet the second placed side from Group A which could very likely be the hosts, Brazil, in the quarterfinals.