Arsenal Starlet Iwobi Could Face Brazil Poster Boy Neymar In Group Stage Of Olympic Games

The Nigeria U23s narrowly missed out on being one of the seeded teams in the football event of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

The Samson Siasia-led side are in Pot 2 of next week’s draw at Maracana, alongside Kore Republic,Honduras and Iraq, meaning a meeting with either Brazil or Argentina, who are both in Pot 1, could be on the cards in the group stage.

Over five tournaments, starting from 1996 in which they won gold, Nigeria accumulated 33 points which would have put them among the top three out of the 16 participating teams but their tally was downgraded as Fifa attached more importance to recent editions of the tournament to reflect current form.

With an extra five points awarded to the national team for winning the 2015 Africa U23 Cup of Nations, Nigeria ended up being the fifth best team with a 20.4 points tally, narrowly losing out to Japan for fourth spot by just 0.4 points.

Arsenal midfielder Alex Iwobi and Manchester City striker Iheanacho remain eligible to play for the Dream Team VI at the Olympics, subject to their release by the English Premier League teams.

Nwankwo Kanu inspired Nigeria to win gold at Atlanta 1996, while they won a silver medal 12 years later in China, losing to an Argentina side parading Lionel Messi in the showpiece game.

Pot 1 : Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Japan
Pot 2 : Nigeria, Korea Republic, Honduras, Iraq
Pot 3 : Sweden, Fiji, Portugal,South Africa
Pot 4 : Algeria,Colombia, Denmark, Germany

Ifeanyi Emmanuel