Head coach of Nigeria’s U-23 team, Samson Siasia, has praised “gods of football” and goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel, after his team qualified for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.
The Dream Team VI defeated hosts Senegal 1-0 in their semi-final clash on Wednesday, to book their place in the final against Algeria.
Daniel saved a penalty in the first half and produced some excellent saves, as Nigeria kept Senegal at bay.
“Emmanuel Daniel kept us in the match as he made some brilliant saves today. On another day, we could have been embarrassed,” Siasia said afterwards.
“I think ‘the gods of football’ were with my team today because Senegal created most of the chances but they failed to score,” admitted the Nigeria coach.
“Creating chances and scoring them are different, so I’m not concerned that we allowed Senegal to have the best chances of the match.”
He added: “I am very happy to win against Senegal again after the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992 and achieving our objective, which was to qualify for the Olympics.