The reigning African U23 champions have been handed an easy group in the preliminary stages of the 2016 Olympics to be staged in Brazil

Nigeria U23 will face Sweden, Colombia and Japan in Group B of the preliminary round of the 2016 Olympics men's football event.

The draw ceremony took place Thursday afternoon at the Estadio Maracana’s auditorium. The audience at the auditorium included some esteemed figures, with representatives from all 28 delegations in attendance, as were Dunga and Oswaldo Alvarez, the respective coaches of Brazil’s men’s and women’s teams.

Brazil were zoned in Group A against Iraq, Denmark, and South Africa.

Algeria were landed in a veritable 'Group of Death' where they will be facing Honduras, Portugal and Argentina in Group D.

Defending champions Mexico were handed a tricky pool in the draw, having been bracketed with Korea Republic, Fiji and Germany.


Men's Olympic Football Draw

Group A - Brazil, South Africa, Iraq, Denmark

Group B - Sweden, Colombia, Nigeria, Japan

Group C - Fiji​, Korea Republic, Mexico, Germany

Group D - Honduras, Algeria, Portugal, Argentina

Women's Olympic Football Draw

Group E - Brazil, China, Sweden, South Africa

Group F - Canada, Zimbabwe, Australia, Germany

CC: Lalasticlala
http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/11252/nigeria-u23/2016/04/14/22379912/olympics-2016-draw-pairs-nigeria-with-sweden-colombia-and?ICID=AR_RS_1

Group B (Our Group) to me is the most evenly matched group.

Lucky enough we got the easiest of the top seeded Teams (Japan).

My assessment of our chances in that Group:

Let's look at the group from 4 angles:

(1) Nigeria finished 1st in African Qualifiers
Columbia finished 2nd in South America ahead of Uruguay and Brazil who were 3rd and 4th respectively
Sweden finished 1st in Europe (a continent that had Spain, Portugal, Germany, Holland, Belgium in participation)
Japan finished 1st in Asia.

3 continental champions and 1 first Runner-up are in our group. How else can u describe it if nt "group of death".

HOWEVER, experience has shown that performance at the continental stage does nt in MOST cases repeat itself in the world stage. We have seen where teams that finished 3rd and 4th in the continental qualifiers doing far better than teams that finished 1st and 2nd.

(2) Pedigree: What usually repeat itself more at the world stage is performance due to pedigree.

Now, go back and look at the Teams in our group and assess them based on pedigree at this stage (U20 - U23).

The Teams I fear the most at this stage are Brazil, Argentina and Spain. Other threats: Mexico, Portugal, France, Uruguay, Germany.
None of these guys are in our group. However, Columbia, Japan and Sweden have shown they are no push overs at age grade level.
So based on pedigree, we have a fairly easy group.

(3) How do these countries perform at senior levels? The U23 is a very competitive age grade. Very close to the senior World Cup.
A good number of the U23 players are already senior team players for their various countries. No one needs to tell us where the likes of Columbia, Japan and Sweden belong at senior level. Any day any time they are a tough nut to crack. Senior team performance has a way of rubbing off on the U23 team.


(4) Another way you can look at it is who are likely to make the squads for each team? I know a couple of good individual players from Columbia who are U23. With 3 over-aged playesr we expect to see the likes of James Rodrigues, Quadrado and who knows maybe David Ospina in the team. Some1 mentioned Zlatan Ibrahimovic to make the Swede squad. Then Kagawa and co for Japan. All those inclusions make those teams tougher.

My fears just like every other forumite here is will Siasia select our best U23 players plus 3 well deserving over-aged players?

Imagine Ibrahimovic leading Sweden's attack and Taiwo Awoniyi or Osimhen Leading Nigeria's attack. What will u call that? David Vs Goliath?

Right now as it is, looking at all 4 angles highlighted above it still points to d fact that we are in a very difficult group. I cannot stick my neck to say whether we will qualify from that group or not until I see Siasia's camping programme and list of invited players.


My verdict: WE ARE IN A VERY DIFFICULT GROUP.

nice one so guys whats your take on Nigeria chances