SAMSON SIASIA AND HIS DREAM TEAM BEGINS THEIR QUEST FOR OLYMPIC TICKET ....

After Nigeria failed to qualify for the football event of the 2012 Olympics, Samson Siasia is hoping to make a return to the Games in Rio next year, but first he must secure qualification at the CAF U-23 African Cup of Nations in Senegal.

The Bayelsa State-born coach has a huge task on his hands  of trying to help Nigeria return to the Olympic Games men’s football event for a seventh time when the U-23 team play Mali on today at the Stade Caroline Faye, M’Bour, in their opening match of Senegal 2015 U-23 African Cup of Nations, which serves as qualifiers for Rio 2016.

The competition, which began on Saturday ends on December 12, with the top three teams of the tournament qualifying for the 2016 Olympics men’s football tournament in Brazil as Africa’s representatives.

The Nigerians will play Egypt next in Group B on December 2 in M’Bour, before their final group game against Algeria at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor, Dakar.

Nigeria is Africa’s most successful nation in the football event of the Olympic Games, having won a gold medal at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and silver in Beijing 12 years later. And qualification for Rio 2016 would hand Siasia and his team the opportunity to further enhance their record in Brazil.

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