Nigeria vs. Denmark: Score and Reaction from 2016 Olympic Men's Soccer

Nigeriawill face Germany in the penultimate stage of the men's soccer tournament at the 2016Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after they defeated Denmark2-0at the Itaipava Arena Fonte Novain Salvador on Saturday.John Obi Mikel's 15th-minute breakthrough laid the foundation for a confident quarter-final win before the Chelsea midfielder set up Aminu Umar for his side's second from a corner with 30 minutes remaining.The 1996 Olympic gold-medal winners continued their campaign to once again finish atop the podium in Brazil, and they now stand just one match from guaranteeing themselves a medal in Rio.ESPN's James Tyler helped put the team's achievement into greater context given their struggles earlier in the Games:Group B winners Nigeria came into Saturday's match hoping to recover from the 2-0 defeat they suffered at Colombia's hands in the final outing of their pool campaign.Just as one might hope to see from one of the squad's two overage players, Mikel stepped up to fire his side ahead on 15 minutes, following Imoh Ezekiel's fine run and cross from the left flank.Mikel doesn't see much of a sight on goal at club level, but the Chelsea anchor played a major hand in seeing Nigeria's youngsters through the opening half in a calm and collected manner.Broadcaster Ebuka Obi-Uchendu even went so far as to predict the 29-year-old was deserving of man-of-the-match honours::It was the Danes who claimed a 55 percent majority in possession, according to Flash Scores, but that didn't prevent Nigeria from thriving on the counter and soaking up any pressure their European foes had to offer.Grant Wahl ofSports Illustratedtook particular note of the transformation Mikel tends to undergo when operating in national-team colours:Denmark were by no means out of the fixture at 1-0 down, but Umar set head coach Niels Frederiksen's side back even further with a simple header on the 60-minute mark.It was once again Mikel at the heart of the move, drilling in the corner for Umar to convert.AM Joy host Joy Reid highlighted the one-sided nature the matchup started to develop:Denmark defender Edigeison Gomes was among his team's more impressive players in the second half, but that was mostly due to the 27-year-old's work in his own half.Nigeria's defence came undone with five minutes remaining and almost saw goalkeeper Daniel Emmanuel suffer an embarrassing error withBlabjerg Mathiasen lurking, but it was as close as the Danes came to scoring.A matchup opposite Germany is their reward, and the Dream Team are sure to be wary of a side that defeated Portugal 4-0 in their quarter-final to reach the last four.Read more World Football news on BleacherReport.com
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