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Post by mamampira on Jul 18, 2016 11:38:30 GMT -5
Nigeria U23 Olympic Team v. Charleston Battery 7/16/16
We watched the match between the NGA U23 Olympic team and Charleston Battery yesterday at Atlanta Silverbacks Stadium. It was an interesting match. Final score was 1-0 Nigeria. Playing on turf is tough; as early as 10 am Mother Nature's free sauna was cranking up. I felt sorry for the players who, at every opportunity, came to the sidelines and asked for squirt bottles to spraying onto their burning feet. It really was good seeing the young future stars of Atlanta United. Andrew Carleton (first homegrown signing) was there representing. In addition, we saw the recently enlisted new members of the academy, including Lagos Kunga and Machop Chol. Charleston Battery is the farm school for Atlanta United. And from what I was told, the good thing is that these young players get to play at the higher level without forfeiting playing in college.
Nigeria missed a few chances. Charleston did too. NGA had skill, size and speed and I believe that if it were a more serious match, they would have put in a few more goals. Charleston gave them a good game in what was really a tune up match for NGA.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Jul 18, 2016 11:45:57 GMT -5
I was impressed with Nigeria. Quality side, and I thought dominated the game and played very good soccer, keeping the ball on the surface. They had a tiny central midfielder, whom I thought was the best player on the field. Goslin and Patrick Okonkwo played also for the battery. Patrick is a beast! Wow, he came on the last 20 minutes and made a difference for the battery, kid is relentless.
I assume all the Nigerian players have contracts with clubs, those are the players I would have been looking at.
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Post by mamampira on Jul 18, 2016 11:59:39 GMT -5
I think the majority of the NGA players either play with reserve teams in Nigeria or with junior clubs abroad.
Yasssss! That midfielder! He the captain too. Very good player, he was everywhere. Le hubs joked that I was taller than him and that the weather was probably cooler where he was…ha! Ha! Good to see a player that has such prowess regardless of size. And there are those who believe that gravity is on their side….I still have not wrapped myself around how that works, because Zlatan is a very skillfull, very tall soccer player.
I believe the final NGA Olympic roster will include three senior players; but I did not recognize any seniors yesterday. They may be waiting to be released by their clubs.
Speaking of, I hear that Zlatan has expressed interest in playing for his country…We shall see. Counting down to the Olympics!
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