QINHUANGDAO, East China, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria beat Cote d'Ivoire 2-0 in the quarterfinals in Olympic men's football tournament here on Saturday.
The young Super Eagles thus will take on Belgium in the semifinal match next Tuesday.
However, both African teams depended too much on their individual skills, but showed little team work in today's match. Their attacks were usually warded off by the defense line.
"Both team had chances to score, but unfortunately, they seized their opportunities, we didn't," Cote d'Ivoire's head coach Gerard Gili said in the post-match press conference. "We have learnt a lot of from our first Olympic tournament. From now on, we need to do more and focus on our future tournaments."
Nigeria's striker Peter Odemwingie opened the scoring one minute before halftime, when he volleyed Victor Obinna's pass into the left net. Cote d'Ivoire's goalkeeper Vincent Angban tipped the ball, but couldn't deflect it out.
The Ivory Coast could have levelled the match in the 50th minute, when Sekou Cisse sent a low cross from the right wing to striker Salomon Kalou, but Kalou's shot was only too soft for the goalkeeper Ambruse Vanzekin.
Captain Gervinho's heavy shot from outside the penalty area in the 70th was also denied by Vanzekin.
The African Elephants had a few more chances to win back, but their crosses usually failed to find their own strikers at the goalmouth.
Yet Nigeria didn't waste their chance. They secured the winning in the 80th minute, when striker Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi was challenged down by Souleymane Bamba and awarded a penalty. Nigeria's captain Victor Obinna coolly sent the ball into the left upper net.
"This is the best game we played. The first chance we had was a goal, that was very, very good," Nigeria's head coach Samson Siasia said. "I am glad that we took a 2-0 victory."
"Winning the gold medal in 1996 contributed to the pressure, because we know what we are capable of, and we know we can win a gold," Nigeria's captain Victor Obinna said.
