Mikel puts Nigeria on Rio medals table

Nigeria beat Honduras 3-2 on Saturday to secure the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics courtesy of two goals from Sadiq Umar and one from Aminu Umar.

The Nigerians’ Olympic dream came to an abrupt end in the semi-finals as Germany proved to be too strong, whereas Honduras were outclassed by Brazil in the final four as they were thrashed 6-0 by the hosts.

Both sides went all out to make sure they would not leave Brazil empty handed, but it was Nigeria who seemed to have dealt with the disappointment of missing the final the best, going three goals up following an impressive opening hour.

Honduras refused to give up, though, and fought back to within one goal in the closing stages of the match thanks to efforts from Anthony Lozano and Marcelo Pereira, only to see their valiant revival fall short.

Samson Siasia’s Nigeria made a strong start to the game and were unfortunate not to open the scoring when Aminu Umar hit the woodwork early on.

But they broke the deadlock in the 34th minute through Sadiq Umar. John Obi Mikel danced past his opponent inside the area before sending in a low cross towards the far post, where the Roma striker coolly tapped home the opener.

Nigeria pushed hard for a second goal after the break and it duly arrived in the 49th minute, Aminu Umar reacting quickest to a rebound to double their lead.

Sadiq Umar then made it three seven minutes later following another assist from Obi Mikel to all but put the match to bed.

Lozano pulled one back for Honduras with 20 minutes left on the clock, though, and Pereira even closed the gap to one goal in the 86th minute, but the comeback proved in vain as Nigeria held on for bronze.